


If That Mockingbird Don't Sing

by orphan_account



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Powers, College, Coming of Age, Drama, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, High School, Marriage, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Rating May Change, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-11-27 13:14:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 46,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20948912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In November of 1984, sixteen year old Will Byers goes missing. His friends, Mike, Dustin and Lucas go out looking for him one night, only to find a sixteen year old girl know only as Eleven who claims to have never seen the light of day. This is the story of how their lives, especially the lives, and especially the romance, of Mike and Eleven, unfold.ON HIATUS





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I’m trying something new with my second story. I don’t usually write stories in book form. I usually prefer the screenplay format (Final Draft FTW), but hey, new things can be fun, right? 
> 
> Before you read, you should know that I’ve aged up the characters. The story starts in 1984, with our main cast being sixteen instead of thirteen. 
> 
> I’m aiming for more of a romance/coming-of-age/slice of life story instead of a science fiction/adventure story. I don’t currently plan on including any supernatural elements, so if that disappoints, I’m sorry! 
> 
> I have no set storyline/end point for this story and I’ll basically be writing by the seat of my pants. I’m also not setting a set update schedule, but you should expect frequent updates most of the time. I’ll try and comment if something changes. 
> 
> Enjoy the story!

Hawkins Police Chief Jim Hopper was having one hell of a day.

First, he was late to work, which was usual for him, but unfortunately for him, today was different. When he walked into the station that morning, he was greeted by an irritated and somewhat startled Flo.

“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to raise you on the radio for hours!” She said, guiding Jim to the closed door to his office.

“I was sleeping.” Hopper said, stifling a yawn.

“Sleeping? It’s almost 11! If you keep coming in late...”

“Mayor Kline will fire my ass, I know, I know. You say that all the time.” Hopper interrupted.

Flo looked at Hopper intently, as if she noticed something strange about him. Then her eyes went wide.

“Are you high?” She asked.

A guilty look briefly crossed Hopper’s face before he replaced it with his normal aggravated look.

“I am not high. I am mildly sedated through a prescribed drug.” Hopper said, carefully choosing each of his words. Flo looked at him disbelievingly.

“Prescribed to who?” Flo asked, giving him a knowing look.

Hopper stared at her for a moment before changing the subject.

“What exactly was so important that you were trying to raise me all morning?” Hopper asked, taking off his hat and reaching for his office door. Flo quickly reached out and grabbed his hand, stopping him.

“The Byers woman is in your office.” Flo said, lowering her voice, worried Joyce would overhear.

Hopper furrowed his brow.

“Joyce?”

“She’s very upset.” Flo said as Hopper opened the door, immediately coming face-to-face with a fuming Joyce Byers.

“Goddammit Jim Hopper! I’ve been sitting in your office for _hours_!” Joyce said, inches from Hopper’s face.

Hopper put his hands up in front of him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Joyce. Calm down! How can I...”

“How can you help me? Well you _should_have been helping me hours ago. My son Will never came home last night.” Joyce said, a tear peaking at her eye when she mentioned Will.

“Are you sure he didn’t just stay...”

“Do you really think the first thing I did was come here? Of course I checked with his friends and their parents. They say he left for home at 8 last night on his bike.”

“Is there any chance...”

“Will isn’t a runaway, Hopper.” Joyce said, completely confident in her statement.

“Please stop interruptingme, Joyce,” Hopper said, “when was the last time anyone saw Will?”

“8 last night, like I just said.” Joyce said.

Hopper nodded his head.

“Right.Um...” Hopper scratched his head, thinking of his next move. He turned to Flo, who was still standing in the doorway. “Send Powell out to...”

Hopper looked to Joyce, silently asking which friend’s house Will was at last night.

“Wheeler.”

Hopper looked back to Flo.

“The Wheeler house and ask around about him. Send Callahan out to check the roads and ditches, make sure he didn’t ride off the road or something. I’ll escort Joyce back to her house and poke around there.”

Flo immediately headed straight for the station’s radio system and relayed Hopper’s orders as he and Joyce headed for the exit.

***

The girl stared intently at the pages in front of her. On one of the pages, there were four images: an apple, a tree, a gun and a heart. On the other page, were the four words that match the images. Two of the words were control words, words that the girl already knew: apple and tree. The other two were new to her, and she was having trouble assigningthe correct word to the correct image.

She was anxiously tapping the red crayon she held in her right hand, trying to will her brain to form a connection between the two images and the words, but she was beginning to get frustrated.

Bad things happened when she got frustrated. Bad things happened to _her_when she got frustrated.

She knew the punishments for failure well. She had been in her cell for as long as she could remember, which was most of her sixteen years, and had quickly come to fear failure of any kind.

They never actually put their hands on her. They had other ways of punishing her.

They were Drs. Sandra Taft, the girl’s medical doctor, and Martin Brenner, the director of the Lab the girl called home.

Sometimes they would restrict her diet to oatmeal and water for days. Other times they would cut all the lights and leave her to wail in fear in the dark for hours, or in one instance for two whole days when she threw a tantrum after tearing up her “homework” as they called it.

The girl took a deep breath and stared down at her right wrist, which bore three blue symbols: 011. She ran her fingers gently over the symbols. She had heard the doctors refer to her as Eleven, so she had come to assume that that was her name. She didn’t know why, but for some reason touching the symbols that represented her, that were the only symbol of her existence as a person, a human being,comforted her, even though she didn’t know or could possibly understand why.

She returned her eyes to her work and finally made a decision. She drew a line from the word “gun” to the picture of the heart, and the word “heart” to the picture of the gun. She put her crayon down and picked up the paper, walking over to the transfer tray that was situated in her solid steel cell door. She dropped the paper in, closed the lid, and pushed the tray to the other side.

She waited for a response from the other side. If she got her work right, she would be rewarded with a treat. Sometimes it would be a candy, or a new color crayon. Other times it would be a small booklet of pictures, usually small copies of popular paintings or pictures torn out from a children’s book.

Those were the ones she liked the most. When she stared at the pictures she was able to let her mind wonder outside of the cell she called home and imagine a world outside of her 6x8 world. Her favorite picture, which she had taped on the wall next to her cot, was a print of Van Gogh’s _The Starry Night_.

When she stared at that painting, she imagined if that was really what the sky looked liked outside.

She knew there was an outside. Brenner had told her about it once. He told her it was a dangerous place full of dangerous people, and that she was better off in here. Papa, as he preferred to be called, said that he would keep her safe, always, while at the same time punishing her harshly.

If she had known what a “lie” was, she may have called him out on it, but then she definitelybeen punished, probably more harsh then she had ever been. She had seen Dr. Taft question Papa in front of her once, and the words that left his mouth were so full of venom they made her want to crumble into dust.

In one way, she loved him because he was the closest thing she had to any family, even though she didn’t know what that meant, she could still sense that people weren’t supposed to be alone like her.

Papa visited her once a month and talked with her. He taught her how to pronounce the words she had probably identified over the last month, and sometimes, if he was in a good mood and she had been doing well, told her a story or two. She only saw Dr. Taft every six months for a checkup or if she was sick.

She continued to stare at the tray, waiting for it to return when suddenly the lights went dark. She screamed out in horror and began to slam her fists on the wall, drawing blood that she couldn’t see.

She had failed. Again.

***

Hopper and Joyce arrived at her house, meeting her other son Jonathan at the door. Hopper nodded his head at the twenty-year-old. He looked tired and frustrated.

“You doing okay, kid?” Hopper asked.

Jonathan just glared at him before speaking.

“My little brother is missing. Of course I’m not okay.” Jonathan said, moving out of the way so Hopper and Joyce could make their way into the house. Hopper nodded his head at Jonathan, and, taking of his hat, turned to Joyce.

“Where’s his room?”

Joyce pointed down the hall.

“Last on the left. But I don’t think you’ll find anything there. I already tore it apart this morning.” Joyce said.

Hopper headed down the hall and opened the slightly open door further with his index finger. He poked his head in and confirmed what Joyce had said: she most definitelyhad torn the room apart. If there _was_anything to find at one point, he wouldn’t find it now.

He closed the door and headed back to the main room.

“Is there anywhere else he would’ve gone?”

“Well, there is this old fort he and his friends built out in the woods years ago, but I don’t think he’s been there since he was 12.”

Hopper shrugged his shoulders.

“Worth a look, I guess.”

***

That night no real progress had been made in looking for Will.

Hopper had arranged a wide area search around the area of Castle Byers, but turned up nothing by nightfall, and had no choice but to suspend the search for the night. Powell had returned from the Wheeler house with no new information and Callahan also turned up empty.

He sent them out to check the quarry, but they found nothing. Still, he had notified the Indiana State Police and they would send a team the next day to drag the water just to be sure. This was something heintentionallyneglected to tell Joyce, who was becoming more frantic with each passing hour. Jonathan did his best to try and keep her calm but it was to no avail.

But Joyce wasn’t the only one becoming frantic.

Will’s friends, Mike, Lucas and Dustin, collectively known as the Party, were just as worried as she was.

They were gathered together the first night he was missing in Mike’s basement, trying to figure out what to do.

“We should go looking for him.” Mike said, pacing around in a circle. He was the most stressed of all, having known Will the longest.

“It’s almost 9, Mike.” Dustin said.

“Not to mention it’s pouring rain out there. If we go out there, we’re more likely to end up lost like Will, not find him.” Lucas said.

Mike stopped dead in his tracks and glared at Lucas.

“I didn’t mean...”

Mike sighed and nodded his head.

“I know, Lucas.”

The group remained in silence for a few moments, before Mike made an executive decision.

“We’re going out.” He said.

He started for the stairs before Dustin spoke up.

“Mike, it’s too dangerous.”

Mike whipped around and faced Dustin, his face turning red.

“If it would be too dangerous for us, then it is definitely too dangerous for Will. I’m going, alone if I have to.” Mike said, turning back around and rushing up the stairs, closelyfollowed by his two loyal friends a moment later.

***

Eleven laid on her cot, still in total darkness. She had her legs curled up to her chest and her cheeks were dotted with fresh tears.

The sound of the lock on her cell door turning brought her out of her thoughts. A thin beam of light slowly appeared as the cell door slowly cracked open. Dr. Taft stepped in, carrying a fresh pair of scrubs and a small plastic bag.

“Eleven,” She said, her voice in a rushed whisper, “get your things! Quickly!”

A confused Eleven quickly sat up and stared at Dr. Taft for a moment before she was driven to action by the look of fear on the doctor’s face.

She quickly pulled her favorite picture off the wall and gathered up her teddy bear, which she had affectionatelynamed “Mr. Snuggles”, after the tag on the bear which read “Snuggle-A-Lot Brand”. These were her two most prized possessions in the world and she wouldn’t trade them for anything.

She rushed over to Taft, who helped her put her things in the plastic bag and change into her fresh clothes.

“We need to be quick.” Taft said. Eleven nodded wordlessly.

Taft exited the cell and turned, waiting for Eleven to follow. Eleven took a small, cautious step. This would be the first time she could ever remember stepping out of her cell and she was both excited and terrified.

Taft motioned for Eleven to follow and grabbed ahold of her hand, leading her down the bright hallway, which temporarilyblinded Eleven as her eyes adjusted to the foreign light.

At the end of the hallway, Eleven spotted what appeared to be a large door, with two buttons on the right side. Once they reached the door, Taft pressed the top button and waited. The wait seemed like it lasted for hours, but finally the door opened, revealing yet another small room.

For a moment, Eleven’s heart sunk, thinking this was her new cell. This feeling was quickly overcome with confusion and fear when the room began to move upwards at a fast rate.

Sensing Eleven’s fear, Taft looked down at her and smiled.

“It’s okay. It’s called an ‘elevator’. It’s taking us up.”

“Upside?” Eleven asked.

Taft smiled.

“That’s right. The upside of down.”

***

Mike and the rest of the Party rode their bikes through the heavy rain down the road, headed toward the road they called “Mirkwood”, where the four had separated the night before. They were sure they would find Will somewhere out there.

The heavy rain slowed them down quite a bit, but they finally reached their destination, ditching their bikes at the side of the road. They each carried a small flashlight, each just bright enough toilluminateonly a few feet in front of them. The odds were against them, but they would do anything to find their friend.

***

The elevator abruptly stopped at the top of the facility, making Eleven jump. Taft gently gripped her hand tighter, reassuring her as they made their way down another hallway, past a sleeping guard.

They made their way through the front of the facility and to the front door, where Taft stopped and turned Eleven toward her.

“This is as far as I can take you.” Taft said, handing Eleven her bag. “Take your things and run. I’ll make sure they don’t notice you gone till morning. Run and don’t look back, okay?”

Taft guided her to the front door, which she opened. She stared out into the pouring rain.

“I wish I had a coat to give you.” She said.

A brief moment of silence passedbetween the two before Taft spoke up once more.

“Follow the right side of the building. You’ll find a hole in the fence. Go through that hole and run.”

Eleven nodded her head, and with a last glance, headed out the door of the lab and out into the pouring rain.

***

“Will!” Mike called out, shining his flashlight in all directions, hoping to catch sight of Will or his bike.

Thunder crashed through the forest with a resonating bang that sounded to Mike’s ears as if a bomb had just exploded. He could feel his heart accelerate in his chest. This was the most daring thing he had ever done in his short life, but not for a second did he ever consider turning back and abandoning his friend.

“Will Byers!” Mike called out again, his voice being overshadowed by yet another crash of thunder.

“Mike! Where are you!” Dustin called out.

“I think the storm is getting worse! We should head back!” Lucas yelled.

At some point Mike had gotten separated from his friends, his shear intent on finding his friend overshadowing everything else, including his awareness of his surroundings.

“Where are you guys?” Mike called out.

They didn’t respond, not hearing Mike’s voice over the pounding of the heavy rain and thunder.

Mike continued to shine his flashlight around, this time not only looking for Will, but his other friends as well.

That was when he saw the small figure huddled at the base of a tree.

“Will!” Mike called out as he rushed toward the figure.

The figure quickly looked up at him and seemed to cower in fear away from him like a small animal would from a larger one. Mike stopped and shone his light on the figure’s face.

What he saw sucked the air from his lungs.

It wasn’t Will. It was a girl. The most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

She was small. He could tell she was no taller than five foot four, even with her cowering on the ground. Her wet brown hair was matted to her head and her eyes were bright red, as if she had been crying for hours. She was shivering so bad it looked as if she was having a seizure.

Mike took a few cautious steps toward the girl, but she backed away from him closer to the tree, so close that if she tried any harder she would almost become a part of the tree. Mike help up a hand.

“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

The girl stared at him, not blinking once, unsure whether to trust him.

She couldn’t really make out the features of his face from theirdistanceand the lack of light. It didn’t help that Mike was practically blinding her with his flashlight.

Realizing that he was probably blinding her, he lowered the flashlight slightly and took a few more steps toward her. She didn’t move, her gaze locked on his.

As he got closer, she was able to examine his face. The first thing she noticed about him were his freckles, which immediately reminded her of the tiny specks of paint that dotted her_Starry Night_print. It was like his face was covered in stars.

She had always looked forward to the first time she would be able to look at stars for real, but she never expected to see them on someone’s face.

The next thing she noticed were his high cheek bones, which werepunctuatedby a deep look of concern on his face.

Eleven wanted to say something to him, but she didn’t know what to say. He was the third person she had ever met in her life, and he was by far the, what was the word...pretty? Prettiest? Prettiest person she had ever met.

Her mouth hung open slightly as she stared at him getting closer and closer to him, each step making her heart race faster and faster.

Mike knelt down in front of Eleven, still not saying a word to her. They stared at each other for a moment before Mike realized she probably needed help.

“Uh, you must be freezing. I mean, obviously you’re freezing, your shaking so bad. Here.” Mike said nervously, taking off his thin rain coat and wrapping it around Eleven, who at first tensed at his touch, but quickly relaxed when she realized that he wasn’t like Papa.

Eleven gripped the edges of the coat and wrapped them closer around her body, taking in a deep breath through her nose, taking in the scent of Mike’s coat. She liked it. She liked it a lot. She could feel her face grow warm, even in the freezing rain.

“Uh, I’m Mike.” Mike said, pointing at himself.

“Mike?” Eleven repeated.

Mike nodded.

“Yeah. Who are you? Where’d you come from?” Mike asked.

Eleven tapped on her chest a few times, trying to get the words out.

She had never actually said the word “Eleven” before. She had only heard other’s speak it.

“E...El...” Eleven tried to say.

“El? Your name is El?”

Eleven became frustrated at her failure to speak. Then, she realized the mark on her wrist.

She regretfully pulled the sleeve of Mike’s coat up her arm, exposing her bare wrist to the cold rain to reveal the tattoo on her arm. She motioned towards the mark, and Mike shone his flashlight on it.

He furrowed his brow in confusion.

“Eleven? Your name is Eleven?” He asked, his eyes returning to her face.

Eleven nodded her head. She wasn’t sure why Mike seemed so confused by her name, but then again she had never heard of anyone called “Mike” either.

After another brief moment of staring at each other, Mike came to his senses as he heard Dustin call out for him again. Eleven jumped at the sound of Dustin’s voice as he and Lucas approached.

Mike turned to Dustin and Lucas and then back to Eleven, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay. They’re my friends.” Mike said.

“Friends?”

Mike nodded, giving her a smile, which Eleven returned. He removed his hand from her shoulder and stood up, holding out his hand and, taking Eleven’s in his, helping her to her feet.

“Did you find Will?” Lucas asked.

“No, but I found this girl. Says her name’s Eleven.” Mike said, turning to Dustin and Lucas and revealing Eleven to them for the first time. Mike let go of her hand and Eleven took a step back, standing behind Mike, unsure what to make of Dustin and Lucas.

“Eleven? Like the number, Eleven?” Lucas asked.

“Yeah, I guess.” Mike said.

“We should be getting back, Mike, before your parents notice we’re gone.” Dustin said.

Mike turned to Eleven.

“We’re going home. You should go home too. You can keep the coat. I have another.” Mike said.

Eleven quickly shook her head.

“No. No home.” She said.

Mike wasn’t sure how, but he felt his heart break into two when she said she had no home. He had known her for less then ten minutes, and wasn’t entirely sure he even knew her real name, but he suddenly felt as if he had to protect her, to watch over her.

“You don’t have a home?” Mike asked.

Eleven nodded her head. Mike stared at her for a moment, trying to think of what to do.

“Maybe we should call the Chief.” Dustin suggested.

“Yeah, he’ll know what to do.” Lucas said.

Eleven didn’t know who or what the “Chief” was, but she didn’t like the sound of it. She shook her head fiercely and tapped her finger at her chest.

“Home.” She said, before tapping her fingers on Mike’s chest. “Your home.”

Mike felt the touch of her fingers on his chest linger for a moment and felt his face grow red when he realized what she meant.

“You...you want to come home with me?” Mike asked.

Eleven nodded her head.

“Your home, my home.” She said.

Mike stood there, thinking for a moment before nodding his head.

“Okay. We can sneak you in the basement. My parents never come down there so they won’t find you.” Mike said.

Dustin sighed and Lucas shook his head.

“We are in so much trouble.” Lucas said.


	2. Chapter 2

During the ride to Mike’s house, Eleven let her mind wonder back to Dr. Taft.

Taft was always nice to her, even though she stood by and let her get punished. When Brenner or his “goons” as Taft liked to call them weren’t looking, she would sing Eleven lullabies (her favorite being and other songs during her checkups or when she was sick. Sometimes Eleven even pretended to be sick to just to see her.

Another thing Taft used to do that El absolutely loved was hug her and hold her. She _loved _hugs. She never felt more safe then when she was being hugged. Taft was the closest thing she ever had to a mother, or Mama, as El would refer to her sometimes in her mind.

She knew that Taft wasn’t really her mother. Taft had told her that her real mother had died giving birth to her, but it was nice to pretend for a while, especially when you lived a life like El’s.

She was jarred from her thoughts as Mike slowed his bike to a stop.

By the time the Party and Eleven had reached Mike’s house, Mike was completely drenched from head to toe. He was shivering so bad he had trouble fitting his key into the front door.

Luckily for them, all the lights are out, so Mike’s parents must’ve assumed that the Party was still in the basement.

Mike slowly opened the door and entered first, making sure they were alone. He then motioned for Eleven to follow him. He turned back to the others.

“Okay, so, we’ll meet back here after to school and figure out what to do next.” Mike said.

Lucas glanced at Eleven and back to Mike. He leaned in close, lowering his voice.

“Uh, Mike? Can we talk a minute?” Lucas said.

“Um, sure.” Mike said.

Dustin leaned in as well, wanting to catch every word.

“So you’re just going to let her stay here?” Lucas asked.

Mike nodded his head.

“Of course. She doesn’t have anywhere else to go.” Mike said.

“Dude, just tell your parents your call the cops. Let them handle it. She could be dangerous. We don’t even know where she came from. She’s obviously not from around here.” Lucas said.

Mike was getting angry. She was clearly harmless, if the terrified look on her face when he first found her was any indication. Lucas was either overreacting or jealous. Or both. Mike couldn’t decide which.

“She’s staying here, and that’s final. And don’t do anything stupid like call the cops. I’m serious, Lucas.” Mike said.

Lucas thought for a moment. He had considered telling his parents when he got home, but he felt he couldn’t betray his friend like that. Besides, he was probably just overreacting. He knew he had a tendency to do that.

Lucas nodded his head.

“Fine”. He said. He agreed to stay silent, but he didn’t look happy about it, and Dustin noticed.

“Dude, he’s having a girl stay overnight. We should be proud of him.” Dustin said, slapping a hand on Mike’s shoulder, which got Eleven’s attention, eliciting a slight yelp from her.

The boys turned to her, with Mike stepping towards her.

“El, are you okay?” Mike asked.

The look of fear on Eleven’s face changed to one of confusion. She shook her head and tapped her chest again.

“Eleven.” She said.

Mike nodded his head.

“I know. Your name is Eleven. I just thought we could call you El for short, you know, like a nickname.” Mike said, giving her a reassuring smile.

“Nick...name?” She enunciated each word as if she had never heard the two words put together like that.

“It’s like...a special name you give a friend.” Mike said.

“Friend?” El asked.

There was that word again, that same word Mike had used in the woods. She didn’t understand it then, but she was too scared and too cold to really ask him what it meant.

“You don’t know what a friend is?” Dustin asked, taking a step toward El.

El stepped back, still unsure of Mike’s friends, as he called them. Dustin put up his hands and stepped back away from her.

“Sorry.” He said.

“A friend is someone you like a lot and want to spend time with.” Mike said.

El took in Mike’s words for a minute before pointing at herself and then to Mike.

“Friends?” El asked.

Mike smiled and nodded his head.

“Of course, El.”

El smiled and rushed to Mike, enveloping him in a deep hug. She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat for a moment before pulling away, still smiling.

Mike was really taken aback by El’s sudden burst of affection for him. He had never been hugged by a girl like that before, and he had certainly never felt the feelings he felt when he felt her rest her head on his chest. He wondered if she could hear his heart rate increase as she hugged him. His face went bright red.

Dustin snickered quietly behind them, earning a light slap on the back of the head from Lucas.

“Anyways, I think we should be going,” Lucas said, “Well see you tomorrow.”

“Bye guys.” Mike said.

Lucas and Dustin waves goodbye to El, who returned a slight wave and a small smile. They turned for the door and left, heading home for the night.

Mike closed the door and turned to El, who was looking all around the foyer. She was completely mystified by the size of the house and all of the decorations and furniture. She had never seen anything like it in her life.

Mike tapped her on the shoulder, which made her jump slightly and turn to him.

“Sorry, El.” Mike said. El smiled, still wearing Mike’s coat. “Um, you can take the coat off now. You can hang it on the hanger over there.”

El nodded her head and took the coat off. It was then that Mike noticed what she was wearing: green hospital scrubs. Mike briefly thought back to what Lucas had said.

Was he right? Was she an escaped hospital patient? Maybe a mental patient? Was she dangerous? A thousand thoughts began to run through Mike’s mind, but then he thought back to the hug she had given him. If she was some kind of escaped mental patient, she was a really nice one. Not to a mention a _really _pretty one.

That was when he noticed that she had noticed that he was still staring at her. She smiled brightly, her face glowing a light shade of pink.

Mike quickly averted his gaze and ran his hand through his hair, which was soaking wet.

“Um, this way.” Mike said.

He lead her to the basement door and opened it. He flipped on the light and headed down the stairs with El following close behind. Once they reached the bottom, Mike turned to El.

“Wait here. I’ll get you some dry clothes.” Mike said.

El looked nervous at the idea of being alone, but nodded her head. Mike quickly rushed up the stairs and headed up to his room, taking each step slowly and quietly.

In the basement, El allowed herself to relax a bit and explore.

The basement was much larger than her cell. Much larger. She moved to the card table that was the centerpiece of the room. She took a seat on one of the chairs and put her arms on the table, resting her head down. She could feel her eyes begin to close as she heard footsteps coming back down the steps.

She quickly got to her feet and turned to the stairs, expecting to see Brenner and his goons, but it was just Mike. She felt her heart leap for joy when she saw him, but she couldn’t really understand what she was feeling. She had never had these feelings before.

Mike was carrying a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants as well as a couple of towels. He walked over to the card table and placed them on top.

“Here ya go. You can dry off with the towels. The clothes might be a bit big on you, sorry.” Mike said.

El smiled and turned back to the card table and dried her hair off with a towel. As her hair got dryer, Mike began to notice how beautiful her brown curls were. He was lost in her hair and almost didn’t realize that El had finished drying her hair and was reaching down to the bottom of her shirt.

Before he could do anything, her shirt was off.

“Oh shit!” Mike said.

Mike quickly averted his gaze, but it was too late. He had seen_everything_. And he liked what he saw. Hedidn’t get a long look, but he was able to catch a quick glance of her breasts. They weren’t big, but they weren’t small either. In Mike’s opinion, they were perfect. He wished he could...

_Stop thinking like that_, Mike thought to himself.

El stood topless in front of Mike, confused at his reaction. She quickly put on the t-shirt that Mike had given her before speaking.

“What’s wrong?” El asked.

Mike took a careful glance to make sure that El had covered up before returning his look to her.

“Uh, you, uh, shouldn’t getnaked in front of people like that.” Mike said.

“Oh.” She said.

The two stared at each other for what felt like an hour to Mike. He realized he had been doing a lot of staring that past couple of hours.

Finally, he turned around, allowing El to replace her scrubs with the pair of sweatpants he had brought her.

“Okay.” El said.

Mike turned around and stared at her in awe.

He was right that the clothes would be a bit big on her. His shirt hung down past her hips and the legs of his sweatpants covered the tops of her feet. El had to keep a grip on the front of the sweatpants to keep them up.

“Sorry about the clothes.” Mike said.

El smiled.

“I like them,” El said, “they smell pretty. They smell like you.”

Mike blushed again.

“Uh, thanks.” Mike said.

After finally getting over the fact that El not only liked the way he smelled, but thought that he smelt pretty, Mike spoke up.

“So, you need a place to sleep.” Mike said.

Mike thought for a moment and thought back to his childhood, when he used to build a pillow fort down in the basement, and sleep there, particularly when his parents were arguing or if he had a bad day at school.

“I’ll be right back.” Mike said

He headed up the stairs and returned a few moments later with some pillows, two blankets, and some sheets.

Mike headed over to the wood work table in the corner of the room andbrushed the tools and other miscellaneous items off of it, and draped one of the sheets over the top of it, creating a canopy. He next created a mattress out of one of the blankets and the rest of the sheets.

He arranged the pillows at the head of the makeshift bed and placed the remaining blanket at the bottom.

When he was finished he turned to El and motioned for her to lay down. She smiled at her new makeshift bed and laid down facing a kneeling Mike.Mike grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over El, tucking her in.

“Okay, um...good night. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, okay?” He said.

El nodded her head. Mike smiled headed up the stairs. He turned off the light.

“Mike!” El called out.

Mike quickly flipped the light back on and rushed down the stairs and back to the pillow fort.

“What? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Mike asked frantically.

El had a tear streaming down one of her eyes. She took a deep breath before saying one word:

“Dark.”

“You’re afraid of the dark?” Mike asked.

El simply nodded her head. Mike thought for a moment before rushing over to the other side of the basement and rummaging through a box before he found what he was looking for: his old night light.

He headed back to El and, reaching over her body, plugged it into the outlet under the table. He crossed his fingers, hoping the bulb would still work.

It did. A soft glow began to emanate from the light.

“Is that better?” Mike asked.

El nodded.

“Thank you, Mike.” El said.

The hair on the back of Mike’s next stood up, as it did every timeEl said his name. He wondered if the same thing happened to El.

Mike swallowed heard and nodded his head. He said goodnight again and headed back up the stairs. He shut the light off and stood at the top of the stairs for a moment, listening for El, but she said nothing. All he could hear was her soft breathing as she drifted off to sleep.

He smiled left the basement, closing the door behind him.

Mike closed the door and rested his back against it, taking a deep breath. This was quite possibly the most bizarre and, at the same time, best night of his life. He took another deep breath before realizing he was still in what used to be his soaking wet clothes, the clothes having dried a bit now.

He stripped off his clothes and stepped into his pajama pants, throwing on a light t-shirt. He turned off his light and climbed into bed, pulling the blanket up to his neck.

A few seconds later, the night light plugged into the outlet next to his bed flicked on, glowing a light golden color.

Fear of the dark was something Mike and El had in common.

Within a few moments, he had drifted off to sleep. He would dream of El that night, and for many more nights to come.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick warning: There is a brief mention of suicide in this chapter. Nothing graphic though.

The next morning Mike made sure to wake up before his parents.

Thankfully, Nancy was away for college and Holly, well Holly wasn’t what you would call a “morning person”.

Mike carefully crept down the stairs and made his way to the kitchen to make El some breakfast. He was mad at himself for not offering her anything the night before. She must be starving.

Mike opened the fridge and looked around. Everything would need to be cooked, which wasn’t exactly a skill Mike had. Mike certainly had a skill for setting off the smoke detector when he tried, though, so instead he opened the freezer and grabbed a half empty box of Eggos. These would have to do for now.

After a moment in the toaster the Eggos were ready. He plated them and poured some syrup over top of them. After grabbing a fork from the cutlery drawer, Mike headed down to the basement with El’s breakfast.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he found El just waking up. Mike had to stifle a chuckle at El’s hair. She had a seriously bad case of bedhead, but Mike still thought she was gorgeous.

_How can someone look that good just after waking up? _Mike thought to himself.

He made his way over to El’s fort and knelt down, placing the tray down between El and himself.

El smiled at him and look down at the stray. She looked back up at himwith a confused look on her face.

“Breakfast. For you. I hope you like Eggos.” Mike said.

“Eggos?” El asked.

“Yeah, you know, frozen waffles?” Mike said.

El still had no idea what he was talking about but nodded as if she did.El reached out with her hand and picked up a waffle and took a small bite out of the corner. She had never had waffles before, or whatever this thick liquid on top of it was, but after taking a taste she immediately fell in love with them.

Mike smiled. His smile quickly faded as he realized that he had forgotten to get her a drink.

“Crap. Orange juice. I’ll be right back.” He said, rushing back up the stairs.

When Mike reached the kitchen he discovered his mother starting breakfast._Shit_, Mike thought to himself.

“Oh! Good morning dear!” Karen said.

“Morning mom.” Mike said, heading to the fridge and grabbing the bottle of orange juice.

He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured a glass. Returning the bottle to the fridge, Mike returned to the kitchen table and grabbed the glass. He headed for the basement before his mom stopped him.

“Mike? Where are you going?” She asked.

“Uh...I’m...I just...” Mike stuttered, trying to think of an appropriate answer. “I’m spending some time in the basement, you know, reminiscingabout old times. With Will missing...”

“Oh dear, of course. I’ll bring you breakfast down...”

“No! No, I’m fine. I’m not hungry. Thanks, though.” Mike said.

He turned back and headed for the basement stairs. He was kicking himself for using Will as an excuse, but he needed some kind of appropriate answer to give his mom, of course using his missing friend as an excuse isn’t exactly appropriate, but it was the only thing that came to mind.

When he arrived back at El’s pillow fort, he found that he had already finished her breakfast. Her face and fingers were covered in syrup and this time Mike couldn’t hold back the light laughter.

El looked at him concerned, even slightly hurt. Mike recognized this look immediately.

“No, no! I’m not laughing at you! I just...you have syrup on your hands and face. It’s cute.” Mike said.

El smiled.

“Cute?”

“Yeah it means…” Mike started.

“I know.” El said. Taft had called her cute many times before and explained to her what it meant. “I’m cute?”

Mike blushed and nodded his head. They stared at each other for a moment before El reached out and poke Mike on the nose, leaving behind some syrup.

“Hey!” Mike said, pulling away from her with a smile on his face. “Well, at least I’m cute now too.”

“You were cute already.” El said, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.

Mike’s mouth dropped open and he let out a loud breath as his face went bright red. El giggled at him, which only made Mike’s blush harder. He felt the heat rush to his face.

“Michael! You’re going to be late for school!” Karen called from the top of the basement stairs.

“Shit.” Mike said. “I’ll be right back.”

Mike headed upstairs, trying his best to look sick.

“Mom, I don’t really feel great this morning.” Mike said.

Karen touched her hand to his forehead and his cheeks.

“Oh my! You’re burning up!” She said.

_Thanks, El_, Mike thought to himself.

“Can I stay home from school?”

Karen nodded her head.

“I need to do some shopping soon after I drop Holly off at school and your dad’s already gone to work.Will you be okay alone?”

Mike nodded his head. Karen gave Mike a quick kiss on the forehead, despite his protestations, and headed back to the kitchen. Mike quickly headed back down the stares to El.

“I’m staying home from school so we can figure out what to do next.” Mike said.

“School?”

“School? You don’t know what school is?”

El shook her head.

“Lucky.It’s a place where you go and learn things. It kinda sucks.” Mike said.

“Sucks?

“Bad. It’s bad.” Mike said.

“Bad.” El repeated. El knew that word very well. “Like the bad man.”

Mike furrowed his brow.

“Bad man? Is that who you were running from last night?”

El nodded her head as she wiped a tear from her eye, spreading more syrup on her face in the process

“What did he do to you?” Mike asked.

El wasn’t ready to answer, she just shook her head. Mike understood. Whatever she went through, it must’ve been horrible if she was willing to risk her life in a torrential rain storm in the middle of the night.

Whenever she was ready to talk about it, he would be there to listen. He was sure of it.

Upstairs Mike’s mom yelled down her goodbye and left the house, leaving Mike and El alone. Mike took a big sigh of relief.

“First things first, you need to clean up.” Mike said.

Mike led El back up the basement stairs for the first time since the night before, and, once he was sure they really were alone, he led her up the stairs to the bathroom.

He grabbed her some towels and helped her get the temperature of the shower just right and left her to clean up.

“Good luck getting all that syrup off.” Mike said from the other side of the door. Mike heard a giggle and let a wide smile cross his face.

He stood their for a moment on the other side of the bathroom door before he realized he was kind of acting creepy and left. For some reason he had quickly become very protective of the girl he’d found in the woods. He wanted to help her do everything, sometimes he thought he _needed_to help her do everything, because apparently wherever she came from, they didn’t teach her half the things she needed to know to survive in the world.

But Mike knew she wasn’t a child. She could handle somethings herself.

As he walked away from the bathroom door, an idea struck him: Nancy was away at college, so it would probably be at least a month until she noticed if things were missing when she comes back for winter break.

_If_she comes back for winter break. And that was a big if.

Before Nancy left for college, Mike and her were very close, which you would not have expected if you had know them when they were seventeen and thirteen respectively. Their close relationship was a relatively new development. It’s not that they didn’t like each other back then, it’s just that they were world’s apart from each other and didn’t really understand each other.

Nancy had tried, even dressing up and participating in some of Mike’s early Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, but for some reason they just couldn’t click with one another.

But that all changed when Nancy’s friend Barb died.

Nancy and Barb were very close. They talked about everything with each other, they went everywhere with each other and they were always there for each other. Back when Nancy and Steve Harrington broke up two and a halfyears ago, Barb was the first person Nancy went to.

Barb died shortly after Nancy’s breakup. It was sudden and unexpected. She had taken her own life, and Nancy was absolutely inconsolable.

Nancy’s deep sadness over her best friend’s death had broken Mike’s heart and he did everything he could to try and help, and that was the start of their close relationship. Ever since then Mike knew he could tell Nancy anything and she would help, even going so far as to cover his asswhen he accidentally broke the kitchen window when he was 14 and trying to learn how to pitch. For some strange reason he had decided to try and join the baseball team that year, despite his complete and utter lack of any type of athletic ability. He briefly considered calling Nancy and telling her about El, but he didn’t want to worry her. Besides, she would probably just tell him to call the cops, or worse, call them herself. She was a practical kind of person.

Nancy was loving her time at NYU’s journalism school. She called when she could, but most of the time the calls were short, and this hurt Mike, even though he was happy that she had found somethinggood for herself.

When Mike stepped into Nancy’s room a wave of nostalgia swept through him. He shook the feeling off and headed for her closet, looking for some of her older clothes.

He fished through a bunch of old pieces of clothing, looking for anything that might fit El. He grabbed a flannel button shirt that Mike couldn’t actually remember Nancy ever wearing, a pair of jeans, and some socks.

While he was digging through her clothes, he accidentally grabbed old an old bra and quickly flung it across the closet, cringing at the realization that he had just held one of his sister’s bras. He felt that El would be fine without one of those for now. Same for underwear. They would cross that bridge when they got to it. Mike could handle only so much of this kind of stuff, and accidentally seeing El topless last night was more than he could handle.

He felt his mind drift off back to the memory before snapping himself back to reality and gathering up his finds and heading to the bathroom, where he heard El shut the water off. He knocked on the door.

“El? I have some close for you. Open the door a crack and I’ll hand them to you.” Mike said.

A moment later, the door opened slightly and a small hand reached out. Mike handed her the clothes and the door closed. Mike waited a few moments for El to dress herself and promptly felt his mouth hit the floor when she opened the door.

She looked _beautiful_.

El giggled at the funny look on Mike’s face.

After Mike managed to pick his jaw up off of the floor, he smiled at El.

“You look beautiful.” Mike said.

“Beautiful?”

“It’s like pretty, but more.” Mike said.

El’s face grew bright red and a wide smile crossed her face.

***

Dr. Martin Brenner stared through the two way mirror into the empty cell which previously held Eleven. He was fuming, barely able to contain his rage. There were two guards standing next to him, who looked terrified. They were the ones assigned to guard her cell for the night.

“Tell me again what happened. But do it slowly, this time.” Brenner said, not turning his head from the cell.

“Well, um, I, I mean, Taylor and me, we were in the security room, talking, and we, I mean, I realized that it was time for the subject’s wake up call and I headed over to the cell. When I turned the light on, she was gone.” One of the guards, Anderson, said.

“Have you reviewed the security footage?” Brenner asked.

“No, not yet sir. We were waiting for you.” Taylor said.

Brenner turned quickly and grabbed Taylor of the collar of his shirt.

“Are you stupid? You should’ve checked as soon as you raised the alarm.” Brenner said, releasing Taylor and pushing him away. “Check it now!”

“Yes sir!” Taylor said as he and Anderson headed back to the security room.

Brenner turned back to the cell and stared back for a moment before punching the mirror twice.

***

Last night was a rough one for Joyce Byers. It was largely sleepless. She spent most of the time sitting in the kitchen, nursing an increasingly colder cup of coffee, glancing every once and awhile at the phone hanging on the wall, always expecting the call she was dreading from the Chief.

But that call never came and now it was morning. Both Jonathan and herself had called into their respective jobs and stayed home, planning on going out again to look for Will.

Jonathan managed to convince Joyce to stay home while he went out to look for Will. He said it would be best if someone was home, just in case Will came back or called.

Joyce was lying down on the couch, clutching a pillow to her chest, fighting back the urge to cry. She had just gotten off the phone with Lonnie, her ex-husband. She absolutely hated talking to him, but she had to be sure that Will wasn’t with him. Lonnie said he wasn’t, and Joyce believed him.

After staring off into space for what seemed like hours, Joyce got up from the couch and decided to give the police a call to check on the search.

After three rings, Flo answered.

“Hawkins Police Department.”

“It’s Joyce. I need...”

“I’ll put you through. One second.” Flo said.

After a moment, Hopper answered.

“We’re still looking Joyce.” Hopper said.

“It’s good to know you decided to come in on time today, Hopper.”

“Joyce, I swear to you we are doing the best we can. The State Police are joining us this morning. We are doing everything we can.” Hopper said.

“But you have no leads?” Joyce asked.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Joyce said.

“Joyce...”

Joyce hung up the phone before Hopper could finish his sentence. Joyce put her back against the wall and slowly slid down it, until she was sitting on the floor. The tears were flowing freely now.

***

Brenner joined Taylor and Anderson in the security room. They had just cued up the footage and were slowly going through all of the night’s coverage, looking for anything strange. Finally, they discovered Taft suspiciously approaching Eleven’s cell.

“Son of a bitch.” Brenner said under his breath.

They watched as the events of the night before unfolded.

“How could you two let this happen? The girl walked out the front fucking door!”

The two didn’t have an answer for Brenner. They just sat in silence. Brenner stared at the footage for a moment before storming off, looking for Taft.

“Come with me. It’s about time you two make yourself useful.” Brenner called out as he left.

The two quickly scrambled to their feet and followed Brenner.

They burst the door to Taft’s office down, only to find that she wasn’t at work. Of course she wasn’t at work. She wasn’t stupid enough to do that. Brenner went over to her desk and picked up the phone.

“I need someone to find the girl and bring me Taft!”

***

“Will!” Jonathan called out.

He was in the middle of the woods now. He had been walking for well over an hour and wasn’t exactly sure where he was, but it was better than doing nothing.

“Will!” Jonathan called out again.

He wasn’t watching where he was going and tripped on a branch, sending himself down a small embankment. Jonathan got to his knees and took a deep breath.

This was too much for him to handle and he knew it. He was putting on a brave face for his mother, but he loved Will, and this whole situation was killing him.

He and Will were close. After their parents divorce, Jonathan made sure to spend as much time as possible with Will, and tried to assure him that it wasn’t his fault that they got divorced. He introduced Will to his favorite music and even took him to a concert in Indianapolis once.

Jonathan didn’t mind spending so much time with Will; it’s not like Jonathan was busy, anyway.

Jonathan was never popular in school. He didn’t have any friends and spent most of his time in school to himself. He was a mediocre student, the only class where he really excelled being his elective, photography.

Jonathan_loved_photography. It was his life. He would take photos of pretty much anything: nature scenes, people, buildings. Whatever inspired him most.

One of the things, or rather, one of the _people_that inspired him the most of Nancy Wheeler.

He had known Nancy since elementary school and had nurse a crush on her for just as long, but she was way out of his league. He was heartbroken when she started going out with Steve Harrington, who he thought at the time was your average high school jackass.

But he seemed to treat Nancy well, even dumping his friends when they decided they didn’t like her. Steve was even nice to Jonathan after that, on the few occasions they interacted, but he hasn’t seen him since Steve went off to the Indiana Police Academy that year.

After they broke up Jonathan thought he might try and ask her out, but then Barb died and Nancy seemed to withdraw into herself, and Jonathan decided he would only make her worse.

He stayed kneeling on the ground for a while, just thinking.

***

Hopper had just gotten off the phone with Joyce and was frustrated, almost as frustrated as she was.

Will’s disappearance was the biggest thing to happen in Hawkins since Hopper started this job and felt as if he was failing, no, he knew he was failing, because if he was succeeding, he would’ve already found the kid and gotten his mom off his back.

He got up from his chair and grabbed his hat and headed for the door. Before he could open it, he came face-to-face with none other than Steve Harrington, dressed from head to toe in a Hawkins Police uniform.

“Oh hell no. I am not dealing with your shit today, Harrington.” Hopper said, pushing past him.

Steve followed after.

“Chief, it’s my first day. I just graduated. You would think some congratulations are in order.” Steve said.

Hopper stopped and turned to Steve.

“You want some “congratulations”? Then fine, congratulations. But I’ve got more important things to do than babysit your green ass. In case you didn’t know, we have a kid missing.” Hopper said.

Hopper turned away to leave.

“Then let me help.” Steve said.

Hopper stopped, but didn’t turn to him.

“I was at the top of my class. I know what I’m doing.”

Hopper closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Fine. Come with me.”

Hopper hopped into the driver’s side of his truck while Steve hopped into the passenger’s seat. Hopper quickly peeled out of the station’s parking lot and headed down toward the Byers’ house.

“So. Where we headed?” Steve asked.

Hopper glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

“The intersection of Cornwallis and Kerley. The Wheeler kid called it ‘Mirkwood’. Said that was the normal route Will took to get home.” Hopper said.

“If it’s his normal route wouldn’t it have been checked already?” Steve asked.

Hopper rolled his eyes.

“Of course. But I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we’re light on manpower. The State Police have just started showing up. Someone could’ve…

Hopper just managed to catch the glint of something metal off the side of the road. He quickly slammed the breaks of the truck.

“Jesus Chief!” Steve said.

Hopper hopped out of the truck and ran over to the side of the road, where he found the mangled remains of Will’s bike. Will was nowhere to be seen.

“Shit.” Hopper said to himself.

Hopper and Steve carefully made their way down the small embankment at the side of the road.

“Will! Will Byers!” Hopper called out.

Suddenly, something moved in a small pile of fallen leaves. Hopper and Steve rushed over and brushed the leaves away.

It was Will. Barely conscious and badly injured, but he was alive.

Hopper reached for his radio.

“Flo, I need an ambulance at Mirk… at Cornwallis and Kerley. I found the kid.”


	4. Chapter 4

Taft was in a panic. She was quickly packing her bags with only the necessities. She knew that her betrayal would be discovered soon, if it wasn’t already, and she had to skip town quickly.

After packing her bags, Taft let her cat out the door, hoping it would find someway to survive in the wild before heading out the door herself and getting in her car. She was just about to start the engine when a van sped down the road and turned into her driveway, rear-ending the car and sending Taft’s head into the steering wheel.

A small cut opened above her eye brow. A dazed Taft reached for the car door handle and opened it, falling out onto the ground. A man stepped out of the van and pulled a silenced gun from his waistband.

He stepped up to Taft, who had rolled over and was staring up at the sky. She saw the man appear in her vision and point the gun at her head.

“No. Wait.” Taft said before everything went dark.

***

Mike and El were seated in the living room, watching TV, which had completely mesmerized El. She had never imagined anything like it, let alone actually seen anything like it.

They were watching an episode of _The Price Is Right_, the only other things being on were soaps, which Mike wasn’t going to watch, even under the threat of death.

Mike watched El with great affection. She sat on the floor, her arms slouched and her mouth half open staring at the screen. Mike got the urge to put his arm around her shoulders, but decided against it. He had only met her the night before, after all. Besides, she probably doesn’t even like him that way, if she even knew what “that way” was.

El noticed Mike watching her and turned to him, only for Mike to quickly whip his head back to the direction of the TV, reaching for a handful of popcorn, a bowl of which was position in front of them on the carpet.

El smiled and returned her gaze to the TV set. After a moment, she reached for some popcorn at the same time as Mike, and their hands briefly touched. Mike quickly pulled his hand away, to the confusion of El.

“Sorry.” Mike said.

El turned to him, confused.

“For what?”

“Uh, never mind.” Mike said, shaking his head and turning back to the TV, his face turning red.

_Goddammit Mike! You’re sixteen years old! You shouldn’t be this awkward around girls! _Mike thought to himself.

Suddenly, they heard a car pull into the driveway.

“Oh shit!” Mike said, getting to his feet and grabbing El’s hand, which just moments before was too much for him.

The two quickly headed down to the basement, as Karen entered the house.

“Mike! I’m home!” Karen called out from upstairs.

Mike turned to El.

“Stay here, and stay quiet, okay?”

El nodded her head.

Mike ran up the stairs to meet his mother.

“Hi Mom.”

“Hi sweety.” She said. Mike rolled his eyes. He hated when she called him that. “Are you feeling any better?”

Mike nodded his head.

“Good. Help me put the groceries away?”

While Mike was helping Karen put the groceries away, El returned to her pillow fort, which she loved, despite only having it since last night. She laid down and stared off into space.

Her thoughts drifted to Mike and how weird he acts around her sometimes. She still didn’t understand why he was so freaked out when she took her top off in front of him. She was just changing her clothes, whats the big deal?

And then there was when their hands touched. He totally freaked out, but then just a few moments later he was holding her hand and guiding her down the stairs like it was nothing. El thought she was weird, but now she was starting to think that Mike was weirder, which was a comforting thought. It meant she wasn’t alone.

She continued to think of Mike, to think about how much she liked the look of his face, how his hair hung on his head and especially his eyes. It was almost like she could see his soul when she looked into them.

Before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep.

***

Brenner was sitting in his office, looking through some paperwork. A knock came a this door.

“Come in.” Brenner said.

Taft’s killer entered the room.

“Ah, Mr. Marsden. Is it done?” Brenner asked.

Marsden nodded his head.

“They won’t find the body.”

Brenner smiled.

“Good. Any luck on the girl?”

Marsden shook her head.

“Nothing, sir. Seems like she disappeared into thin air.” Marsden said.

“Now, we both know that’s not true. Not for lack of trying though...”

Brenner motioned for Marsden to take a seat across from him. He did.

“I don’t think I need to express how important it is that we either capture the girl, or put her down. The entirety of Project MOCKINGBIRD relies on it.”

“Don’t worry, sir. I’ve got my best men working on it.” Marsden said.

“Very good.”

***

A State Police officer was roping off Mirkwood with crime scene tape as EMTs worked on will on the road. They had him strapped to a backboard and were in the process of splinting his right leg. Hopper and Steve were standing over him, watching the EMTs work.

“I can’t believe he managed to survive that storm last night.” Steve said.

“He’s a tough kid, I’ll give him that.” Hopper said.

Hopper turned back to the mangled bike, which was being photographed by a crime scene technician. Steve followed Hopper’s eyes.

“Must’ve been a drunk driver.” He said.

Hopper grunted in agreement.

“Doubt we’ll find him though.” Hopper said.

The EMTs finished splinting Will’s leg and loaded him into the ambulance.

“You go with the kid.” Hopper said. “I’ll go notify his mother.”

Steve nodded and hopped into the front of the ambulance, which then took off in the direction of Hawkins Memorial.

Hopper arrived at Joyce’s house not too long after. He knocked at the door and Joyce answered, a look of worry on her face.

“Is he...”

Joyce already knew what Hopper was doing there.

“He’s alive. Banged up bad, but alive.”

“Oh thank God!” Joyce said, stepping toward Hopper and embracing him.

Hopper stood awkwardly for a moment, his arms stiff and at his side, before giving Joyce a few reassuring taps on the back. After another moment, Hopper cleared his throat, and Joyce pulled away from him.

“Come on. I’ll drive you to the hospital.” Hopper said.

“Thanks, Hop.” Joyce said.

***

After helping Karen with the groceries, Mike excused himself and headed back down to the basement, where he found El sound asleep in her pillow fort.

Mike couldn’t help but watch her sleep. He noticed howpretty she was, even when she was asleep. A piece of her hair had fallen over her eye. Mike gently reached out and move it away, putting it behind her ear.

El’s eyes slowly opened. Mike’s eyes went wide, having been caught watching her sleep.

“Uh sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I wasn’t watching you sleep or anything, I swear.” Mike said.

El smiled.

“It’s okay. I like it when you’re around. Safer.” El said.

Mike couldn’t help but smile. He was totally falling for this girl and he was hoping that same thing was happening to her.

El sat up in the pillow fort, sitting with crossed legs across from Mike.

“So, uh, where are you from?”

“Lab.” El said.

“A lab? You mean the Hawkins Lab?” Mike asked.

El nodded her head.

“Why were you in a lab?”

“I was in a small room. The bad man would make me do weird things.” El said.

Mike’s heart immediately sunk, his mind going to the worst place possible when she mentioned “weird things”.

“’Weird things’ like what?” Mike asked nervously. He wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to hear the answer.

“I would draw lines from words to pictures that I thought they...they...”

“Represented?”

“What does that mean?” El asked.

It was becoming clear to Mike that El had been locked away for a long time and must not have been taught much, because she didn’t seem to know much at all, not that that changed the way Mike thought about her.

“It means what something is.” Mike said.

El nodded.

“Yeah. They made me do stuff like that.” El said.

“They didn’t...they didn’t make you do anything...like, with your body, or anything, right?” Mike asked, bracing himself for the answer.

El looked at him confused.

“No. What would they make me do with my body?” El asked.

Mike breathed a huge sigh of relief. He shook his head.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about. Just, if anyone does anything to you or asks you to do anything that you don’t want to do, don’t do it, okay?” Mike said. “And if something like that ever happens, let me know and I’ll mess them up.”

Mike jokingly put up his fists in a boxing pose. El smiled and nodded her head. They stared at each other for a moment, Mike still relieved that nobody had touched El. Just a few hours ago, this silence would’ve been uncomfortable for Mike, but now he was at ease. El was the first to break the comfortable silence.

“What did you mean when you said ‘make me do anything with my body’?” El asked.

Mike’s face went bright red. That had been happening a lot the past twenty four hours. He was beginning to feel like he was turning into a tomato. A big, hopelessly in love tomato.

“Uh,I meant, um...” Mike had no idea what to say. He wasn’t exactly going to give El “the talk” but he felt like she should know something, at least enough to protect herself.

“Do you remember when you took your top off in front of me last night?” Mike asked.

El nodded her head.

“Well, sometimes, bad people will make people do stuff like that when they don’t want to, and other things, worse things.” Mike said.

“But I wanted to take my shirt off last night. It was wet. Why were you so upset then?” El asked.

_Oh boy_. Mike thought.

“I wasn’t upset, I was just...surprised. I’ve never seen a girl...like that before. You’re really only supposed to like...” Mike thought back to the rather conservative “talk” his parents had given him a few years before.

“You’re only supposed to do that stuff in front of your husband.” Mike said.

“Husband?”

“Yeah, it’s the guy a girl loves so much that they get married. And then they...do...stuff…like that together.” Mike said.

“What’s love?”

Mike felt his heartbreak. El hasapparently never known love, familial or otherwise. It was true, kind of. El didn’t know what love was, but she had felt itbefore. She had some love for Taft, and even a tiny amount for Brenner. But both of those were exceeded by the amount of love El was feeling for Mike.

“Love is...love is...” Mike thought for a moment. “Do you remember when I told you about friends last night?”

El nodded her head.

“Well, it’s like that, except you like them more than friends. You want to spend every minute with them and you just...your heart might feel weird when you’re around them and your stomach too. You can love someone like a husband, or like a brother or sister, but that kind of love is different.” Mike said.

“Oh.” El said.

A brief moment passed between them before El spoke up again.

“Will you be my husband?”

Mike felt his heart momentarily stop in his chest. _What the hell have I gotten myself into_, Mike thought to himself. He was simultaneously terrified and over the moon with happiness that El apparently loved him so much that she already wanted him to be her husband.

“Will...what?” Mike said, stammering his way through those two words.

“Well, I feel those things you said about you. And I want to spend every minute with you. And I don’t know why but I keep wanting to get...” El stopped, trying to remember the word Mike used last night. “I keep wanting to get naked in front of you again.”

_Holy. Fucking. Shit._

***

Hopper and Joyce arrived at the hospital after the ambulance. They made their way through the hospital waiting room and asked for Will, be directed to one of the trauma bays.

Inside the room, there was a team of doctors and nurses tending to Will, who had all kinds of wires and tubes in him. He was semi-conscious.

“M...mm...mom?” Will said.

Joyce immediately burst to tears and ran to her son’s side, taking his hand in hers.

“I’m here, Will.” Joyce said, as she place a kiss to his forehead.

Hopper turned to one of the doctors, who was filling out some paperwork.

“How is he?”

“Pretty banged up. He has a left leg fracture, lots of cuts and bruises and a pretty bad concussion, but we think he’ll be okay.” The doctor said.

Hopper nodded his head.

“Good.”

Hopper exited the room and walked up to Steve, who was chatting up a nurse.

“Steve.” Hopper said.

Steve turned to Hopper and back to the nurse, excusing himself.

“How ‘bout you keep your mind on the job?”

Steve nodded his head.

“Sorry, Chief.”

***

Lucas and Dustin were at lunch, and they were worried when Mike didn’t show for school. They came up with all kinds of crazy theories, like maybe the girl they found was a vampire and sucked all the blood from his body, or was a demon and possessed him.

All this talk stopped when Dustin noticed agirl hehadn’t seen before walkinto the lunchroom and looked around for a spot to sit. She had bright red hair and was wearing a striped shirt and jean shorts.

“Who’s that?” Dustin asked,motioningtowards the girl.

“Hey, that’s the new girl!” Lucas said.

“I didn’t know there was a new girl.” Dustin said.

“Yeah, I heard she’s from California.” Lucas said.

The girl caught Lucas gaze. Dustin noticed and waved, motioning for her to come over and sit with them.The girl rolled her eyes and look around the room, and, seeing no other place to sit, she walked over and sat down, a seat away from Lucas, and tried to ignore the two.

“Hi.” Dustin said.

The girl ignored her.

“The quiet type. Nice.” Dustin said, jokingly.

The girl turned to Dustin.

“What do you want?”

“What’s your name?” Lucas asked.

“Max.” She said.

“I’m Lucas and this idiot is Dustin.”

“Whatever.” Max said, turning back to her lunch.

The three sat in awkward silence for a few moments before Lucas spoke up again.

“So where are you from?”

Max rolled her eyes and turned to Lucas.

“You know, I noticed you staring at me in math class, Stalker.” Max said.

Lucas’ mouth dropped open and he attempted to make an excuse but couldn’t get the words out. Dustin just laughed at him.

“You’re such a creep, Lucas.” Dustin said.

Lucas gave Dustin a death glare.

***

Mike was staring, mouth agape at El, who face was blushing red.

“Did I say something wrong?” El asked.

“N...no...it’s just...” Mike swallowed hard before continuing. “We’re a little young to get married.”

“What’s married?”

“That’s how a guy becomes your husband.” Mike said.

“Oh. When can we get married then?” El asked impatiently.

“Uh...a few years.”

El’s face dropped. She didn’t really know what a year was, but it sounded like a long time.

“Oh.”

After a brief moment of silence, Mike spoke up.

“You really want to marry me?” Mike said.

El nodded enthusiastically.

“But you just met me.” Mike said.

“You’re the best person I’ve ever met.” El said. “No one has been this nice to me.”

She leaned forward and embraced Mike in a deep hug, burying her head into the crookof his neck. Mike felt his heart leap with joy as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in deeper into the hug.

They stayed like that for a few moments before parting. El’s smile reached from ear to ear.

“You’re the best person I’ve ever met too.” Mike said.

“Promise?”

“Promise. Friend’s don’t lie.” Mike said.

“What’s a lie?”

“It’s when you don’t tell the truth.” Mike said. He could already tell that El was about to ask what “truth” meant. “Truth is what actually happened. Like, if I took a pencil and said I didn’t, that would be a lie, but if I took a pencil and said I did, that would be the truth.

El nodded, understanding. Shelooked to the floor for a moment before returning her eyes to Mike.

“Can I ask you something?” El asked.

“Sure. Anything.”

“But you have to tell the truth.”

“Of course.” Mike said.

El paused for a moment before speaking.

“Do you want to see me naked again?”

Mike’s eyes went wide.

“I...uh…”

“Friends don’t lie.” El said.

_This girl is going to be the death of me_.

***

Jonathan burst in through the hospital doors and ran up to the triage desk, asking for Will. They directed him to his room and he rushed to it, finding his mother stroking Will’s head while he slept.

“Is he okay?” Jonathan asked.

Joyce nodded her head, not taking her eyes off of Will.

“He’s hurt, but he’s going to be okay.”

She turned to Jonathan and was shocked at his appearance.

His jeans were torn up and he had scrapes on his knees and arms.

“What happened to you?” Joyce asked, trying to keep her voice down to prevent waking Will up.

“I took a fall in the woods. I’m fine, Mom. I promise.” Jonathan said. “Did they say what happened?

“They think he was hit by a drunk driver.” Joyce said, anger rising in her voice.

Jonathan took a deep breath. He couldn’t look at Will in this condition anymore.

“I’m gonna step outside for a minute.” Jonathan said.

Joyce nodded her head, and Jonathan stepped out, only to run into Steve.

“Woah. Oh. Hey Byers. How ya doin’” Steve asked, a smile on his face. He suddenly realized what he had just asked. “Oh shit. I’m sorry. I just meant...”

Jonathan laughed.

“I know what you meant. I’m fine.” Jonathan said. “I see you’ve joined Hawkins finest.”

“Indeed. Ladies do love a man in uniform, after all.” Steve said.

The two shared a laugh.

***

Mike still hadn’t responded to El’s question when they heard furious knocking on the front door and the doorbell sounding endlessly.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” Karen said as she made her way to the front door. “Dustin! Lucas!”

_Saved by the bell, literally_. Mike thought to himself, but he knew this was only a temporaryreprieve.He would have to answer El’s question eventually.

***

Marsden exited the lab and carefully followed the path he had seen El take on the security cameras. He made his way into the woods and followed what was left of her tracks. He didn’t make it far before the tracks disappeared, having been destroyed by the storm the night before.

“Shit.” Marsden said to himself.

If he was going to find the girl, he was going to have to use other means.


	5. Chapter 5

Joyce has been at Will’s bedside for a few hours now. He has been in and out of consciousness, a combination of his concussion and the painkillers the doctors had given him for his leg.

A doctor and two nurses entered Will’s room.

“Mrs. Byers, I’m Dr. Short, I’ll be operating on your son. We’re ready to take him back now.” Short said.

Joyce nodded her head and leaned over Will, giving him a kiss on the forehead.

“You’ll be fine. Just fine.” Joyce said as they wheeled Will out of the room.

Once Will was clear of the room, Joyce broke down into tears. Jonathan put his hand on her shoulder, fighting back tears himself.

***

The door to the basement opened and Lucas and Dustin rushed down the stairs, finding Mike and El waiting for them. Dustin wave at El, who waved back, but Lucas just stood there.

“So she’s still here.” Lucas said. Part of him had hoped that Mike would’ve come to his senses and called the cops. Mike nodded his head.

“Of course she is, Lucas. Look, she’s not dangerous. She says she was held in a lab” Mike said.

“A lab? So wait, is she like some kind of superhero? Does she have powers?” Dustin said, excitedly.

Mike smiled and shook his head.

“Of course she doesn’t have powers.” Mike said.

Mike explained the story El had told him earlier. Dustin hung on to every word, while Lucas wasn’t quite sure if he believed the story, but he was interested.

“But why did they keep her there?” Lucas asked.

“I told you. That had her...”

“I know what you said, but it doesn’t make sense. What’s the point of keeping a kid isolated only to slowly teach them words? Who does that? Why would the _government_do that?” Lucas asked.

No one had an answer for him.

“This is a big deal, guys.” Lucas said. “If they were really experimenting on her, they aren’t just going to let her go quietly. They’re going to come after her. After us.”

Dustin’s excitement quickly faded and Mike was starting to get concerned. Concerned that he might have gotten himself into something he can’t handle. He nervously glanced at El, turning his head away when she noticed his gaze.

Mike took a moment to think, not sure what to do. He could turn her into the police. Maybe they would understand and protect her. Or maybe they would deliver her straight back to the Lab she came from.

After a few more moments, he finally made a decision.

“Well, we’re already in the middle of it now. So we do the only thing we can. Protect her.”

Mike turned to El and then back to Lucas and Dustin.

“At all costs.”

***

Joyce was still seated at her chair in Will’s room, waiting for his surgery to be over when Hopper entered the room, removing his hat. He turned to Jonathan.

“Do you...” Hopper said, but he didn’t need to finish his sentence. Jonathan understood and stepped out of the room.

Joyce wiped her eyes with a tissue as Hopper grabbed a chair and sat down next to her.

“How you holding up?” Hopper asked.

“I’m fine.” She said.

_You don’t look fine_, Hopper thought to himself.

“We’re still working some leads...”

“You’re never gonna find him, are you?”

Hopper looked down at his boots and fiddled with his hat. The two sat in silence, neither of them having anything else to say, but neither of them wanting to leave.

***

Brenner was staring into El’s empty cell, contemplating the future of the project, _his_project. If he didn’t get this situation resolved soon…

“Dr. Brenner?”

Brenner turned to the source of the voice, a guard.

“There’s a call for you sir.”

Brenner made his way back to his office and grabbed the phone.

“Dr. Brenner.” He said.

“You’ve really messed up this time.” The voice on the phone said.

Brenner took a deep, nervous breath.

“Sir, I...”

“I don’t want excuses, I want results. Do you know how hard it was to get funding for your little project? And now your project is gone!” The man said.

“I still have other subjects...” Brenner started before the maninterruptedhim again.

“No. You don’t.” The man said.

Suddenly, gunshots after gunshots echoed throughout the building.

“What did you just do?” Brenner asked.

“Terminated your subjects. Find the girl, end her, and maybe you’ll get to keep your life and your job.”

Before Brenner could say anything, the line went dead. Brenner slammed the phone down.

***

“Are you fucking crazy?” Lucas yelled. “’At all costs’? This isn’t a movie! This is real life!”

“I know that! But what else are we supposed to do? If we go to the police, whatever they do with her, guess what? We’ll be in the paperwork. And if they are as bad as El made them out to be...”

The realization hit Lucas. Mike was right. They were stuck. Maybe only Mike would get included in the paperwork. Maybe only Mike would become a target, but Lucas knew he wouldn’t let that happen. They had no choice but to hide El.

Lucas took a deep breath and nodded his head. He took a seat on one of the chairs in the basement.

“Okay. Fine. You’re right. But what the hell are we supposed to do? She can’t live in your basement forever.” He said.

“Why not?” El asked, the first words she had spoken since Lucas and Dustin arrived. They all turned to her.

“Eventually Mike’s parents are going to find you.” Dustin said.

“They won’t like me?” El said with a depressed look on her face. Mike put his hand on her shoulder.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just, they don’t know who you are or where you’re from. And they definitely won’t believe the lab story.” Mike said.

El suddenly became very defensive. She brushed Mike’s arm off of her shoulder and stood up.

“It’s not a story! It’s the truth!” El said.

“We know, El.” Dustin said.

“We believe you. _I _believe you.” Lucas said.

El stared at Lucas for a moment before giving him a small smile, which Lucas returned, and sitting back down, her fear and anger having dissipated.

“We have to come up with a plan. Lucas is right. We’ll have to bring her out of the shadows at some point.” Dustin said.

They all thought for a few moments, but none of them could come up with a plan. This was more serious than anything that had ever dealt with in their lives. But they didn’t have to worry about making up a plan, because one was about to be forced upon them.

“Mike! Boys!” Karen called from the top of the basement stairs.

The Party could hear Karen’s footsteps rushing down the basement stairs.

“Oh shit!” Dustin said under his breath.

There wasn’t enough time to hide El. They were going to have to make up something on the spot.

Within a few seconds, Karen was in the basement and had spotted El for the first time.

“Oh! I’m sorry dear! I didn’t see you come in!” Karen said, a confused look on her face. “And what’s your name?”

At first, El didn’t say a word.

“Uh, her name is El.” Mike said.

“El?” Karen asked.

“It’s short for Eleanor.” Dustin said. The boys looked at Dustin with a look that said “really?”.

Karen nodded her head and smiled at El. Then she realized why she had come down to the basement.

“Oh! Boys! Joyce...Mrs. Byers just called. They found Will!”

All of the boys jumped from their seats.

“We need to see him!” Mike said excitedly.

“Well come on! He’s at Hawkins Memorial.” Karen said, moving out of the way of the stairs as Lucas, Dustin and Mike ran up them. El remained seated. Karen looked at her and furrowed her brow.

“Aren’t you coming, dear?”

El sat frozen in her pillow fort, unsure what to do.

“Uh, she’s gonna stay here. She doesn’t really know Will. It would be awkward.” Mike said nervously.

“Nonsense! She can sit with me in the waiting room. Come on dear!” Karen said.

El didn’t move, instead looking to Mike who reluctantly shook his head. El got out of her pillow fort and followed the boys up the stairs. As she passed Karen, she noticed something about strange about El.

“I swear I’ve seen that shirt before...” Karen said to herself.

She shook the thought off and followed them up the stairs.

***

Twenty-year-old Nancy Wheeler was resting in her dorm room at NYU, trying to tune out the droning of her roommate, Lucy as she scribbled notes into a notebook.

“And then he told me...” Lucy stopped talking, put her book down and turned to Nancy. “Are you even listening to me?

Nancy didn’t hear her. Her eyes continued to drift from her text book to her notebook. Suddenly, a pillow smacked Nancy in the back of the head.

“Hey!” Nancy said.

“I was talking to you, you know.” Lucy said, pouting.

Nancy sighed, putting her pencil down and turning to Lucy.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just been under so much stress lately.” Nancy said as she sat up on the edge of her bed. She took a deep breath and sighed again. “I’m starting to think college might not be for me.”

“Shut. Your. Mouth, Nancy Wheeler. You’re at the top of your class! You can’t just up and leave!” Lucy said, getting up from her bed and taking a seat next to Nancy on hers.

“I know, it’s just...I hate this city. I miss home, which is so strange because up until now I couldn’t wait to leave.” Nancy said.

“So you’re just a little homesick. You’ll go home for winter break, get your fill of home, and get back to your senses. Problem solved!” Lucy said, giving Nancy a smile.

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

***

The Party quickly entered the hospital and were greeted, or rather, grunted at by Hopper when they made their way up to Will’s ward.

“You can go back, but he just got out of surgery, so he’s a bit out of it.” Hopper said, opening the door to the ward, almost being knocked over by the three boys as they passed him. “Last door on the left!”

Hopper was shushed by a nurse. He shrugged his shoulders at her and followed after the boys.

Karen took a seat in the waiting room with a very nervous El, who was looking all around the place. There were so many people. El clenched her fists.

“So, Eleanor. I’ve never met you before. Are you new here?” Karen asked.

El looked at her nervously and nodded her head.

“That’s nice.” Karen said.

A brief, but very awkward moment passed between them before Karen spoke up again.

“So, tell me about yourself. What do you like?”

El froze for a few moments before speaking.

“Um...I like...Eggos...” She thought for a moment. “Oh! And I like Mike. I really like Mike.”

Karen looked at El with a surprised look on her face and smiled.

“Oh! So you’re his girlfriend?” Karen said, her smile growing. “My little Mikey finally has a girlfriend.”

El wanted to speak up and ask Karen what a “girlfriend” was, but she was worried that she would get suspicious if she started asking questions about things that seem normal to other people, so she just nodded her head in affirmation.

“Oh that’s great, dear! I just wish he had told me...” Karen said.

The two returned to sitting in awkward silence, but Karen’s smile never left her face.

***

Marsden had just left the crime scene where Will was found. He poked around when no one was looking, trying to find a connection to this incident and the missing subject, but couldn’t find anything. Once again, his investigation had hit a dead end.

He was heading back into Hawkins now, unsure where to start next. After he had murdered Taft, he ransacked her house, looking for any kind of clue where Taft might’ve sent the girl, but found nothing. It was as if the girl disappeared off the face of the planet.

He checked hospitals, he checked the police stations of Hawkins and all the other surrounding communities and had nothing. If he didn’t find something soon, Brenner would end him, he was sure of it.

He hated Brenner, but his hatred of him was out weighed by his fear of the man.

From what Marsden knew about Brenner, which wasn’t a lot, he knew that he was a brutal man. He knew that Brenner had previously worked with the CIA on MKULTRA and apparently impressed someone high enough up the food chain to get himself his own project: MOCKINGBIRD.

Marsden didn’t know the details of MOCKINGBIRD, nor did he want to. All he knew was that it involved kids somehow, and that didn’t sit right with him. Marsden was a cold blooded man who had killed more people than he could count, including children, but experimenting on them was too much, even for him.

After making his way into town, Marsden stopped at Benny’s Burgers and headed for the door, when he bumped into a man.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Marsden said, before realizing that he had just bumped into a police officer. He quickly changed his tone. Getting the attention of the cops was never a good thing for a man in Marsden’s line of work. “Uh, sorry.”

“No big deal, man.” Steve said, as he picked up the bags he had dropped.

Marsden passed by Steve and entered the restaurant as Steve headed out to Hopper’s truck, which he had borrowed to grab the two dinner. He dropped the bags off in the car and was just about to hop in when he noticed the van that the man that bumped into him had been driving.

It was a Department of Energy van, and the front end was banged up. Alarm bells sounded in Steve’s head. He reached for his radio.

“Uh, Chief? I have a DOE van down here at Benny’s. Front end’s all bashed in.”

“Stay there. I’m on my way.” Hopper said over the radio.

***

Mike, Lucas and Dustin were seated with Joyce and Jonathan around Will’s bedside. Will was still out of it from the anesthesia, but the doctors said he should make a full recovery.

Mike was disturbed to hear how close to Mirkwood they found Will.

“He was so close. We might’ve walked right past him.” Mike whispered to Lucas and Dustin.

Will slowly started to wake up. He turned to Joyce.

“Mom?” Will said weakly.

“Hi sweetheart. Everything went great. You’re going to be fine.” Joyce said, stroking his hair.

Will nodded his head slightly before noticing Jonathan and smiling at him.

“Hey buddy.” Jonathan said, a smile crossing his face.

Will then turned to the other members of the Party.

“Hey guys.” Will said, smiling at them.

“Hey Will.” Mike said. “How’re you feeling?

“Not great.” Will said.

Mike looked down at his feet, feeling bad that they didn’t find him sooner. He then turned to Joyce, wanting to have a few private moments with just Will and the Party.

“Um, Mrs. Byers? Would it be okay if we had a few private minutes with Will?”

Joyce was reluctant to leave Will, but nodded her head anyway.

“Of course.” Joyce said.

She got up from her chair and left the room, Jonathan following after.

All the boys lean in closer to Will.

“You’re not going to believe what happened.” Dustin said.

“Something happened while I was gone?” Will asked.

They all nodded their heads, Mike looking uncomfortable. He clearly didn’t want to discuss this right now. He was worried that if Will found out that they went out looking for him and then abandoned their search for them when they found El, that Will would think they don’t care about him.

“Maybe we shouldn’t...” Mike started to say before Lucas talked over him.

“We went looking for you and, well, we didn’t find you, obviously, but Mike found a girl in the woods. She says...”

“Lucas! Stop! He just got out of surgery! It’s too much.” Mike said.

Will shook his head.

“No it’s not. I want to hear.” Will said.

Mike sighed, giving up.

“Anyway, she says that she was held captive at the Hawkins Lab. She says they were doing weird experiments and anything.” Lucas said.

“Is that all true?” Will asked, turning to Mike.

Mike nodded his head.

“Her name’s El.” Mike said before turning to Dustin. “Or Eleanor, apparently.”

“I’m sorry! I was on the spot!” Dustin said.

“Eleanor’s a nice name.” Will said, smiling at Dustin who returned the smile. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

“She’s out in the waiting room now, but we’re trying to have her lay low. We’re worried the Lab is going to come after her. To be honest, we don’t really know what to do.” Mike said.

“Don’t worry. We’ll think of something.” Will said.

Mike smiled when Will said “we’ll”. Finally the Party was whole again, and it might just have a new member as well.

“Oh! And there’s this new girl at school...” Lucas said.

***

Hopper and Joyce almost collided with each other as Jonathan and her left the ward.

“Sorry, Joyce. Have an emergency. Can I borrow your car? Steve has mine.” Hopper said.

Joyce fished in her pockets for her keys and gave them to Hopper.

“Sure thing, Hop.” She said.

Hopper quickly turned around and ran for the elevator. Joyce then spotted Karen and El sitting in the waiting room. Joyce walked over to Karen while Jonathan hung around the door to the ward.

“Joyce!” Karen said, getting to her feet and giving her friend a hug. “I’m so glad they found him!”

“Me too.” Joyce said.

The two parted and El got Joyce’s gaze.

“Oh! This is Eleanor, or El as the boys are calling her. She’s Mike’s_girlfriend_.” Karen said, making sure to put special emphasis on the word “girlfriend”.

“Really? Well it’s nice to meet you, El.” Joyce said, giving her a big smile.

El smiled back. She didn’t know why, but she really liked this woman. She liked her a lot more than Mike’s mom, not that there was anything wrong with her, but there was something about the way she looked at her that made her feel uneasy.

“We were going to head down to the cafeteria. Will you two join us?” Joyce asked.

Karen nodded enthusiastically and all four headed for the cafeteria.

***

Steve hung around the back of Hopper’s truck, waiting for backup. Finally, Hopper showed up driving Joyce’s car. He got out and approached Steve.

“He still in there?” Hopper asked.

“Yeah...wait! Here he comes!” Steve said.

Hopper took a deep breath as they waited for Marsden to exit Benny’s. Once he did and approached his van, Hopper and Steve popped out from behind Hopper’s truck.

“Excuse me, sir? Mind if we talk to you for a second?” Hopper asked.

Marsden was immediately worried, but decided to try and play along.

“Sure. About what?” Marsden asked.

“Well, the front of your van is all banged up. Wanna tell me how that happened?” Hopper asked.

_Stay calm_, Marsden thought to himself.

“Just a fender bender. No big deal.”

“Looks like it was a pretty big fender bender. Don’t remember hear anything about it come across the radio.”

“Didn’t call it in. I exchanged info with the other guy and that was it.” Marsden said.

“You sure you didn’t hit a kid on his bike a couple nights ago?” Hopper asked bluntly.

Marsden took a deep breath.

“Excuse me?” Marsden said.

This wasn’t going how he hoped it would. Not at all. Marsden took a step back from Hopper and Steve, who had their hands on their weapons.

“Why don’t you come down to the station with us, answer a few questions?” Steve asked.

Suddenly, Marsden reached for his waistband and produced a .45. He took a shot at Steve, striking him in the chest, sending him to the ground.

“Shit!” Hopper yelled out as he drew his weapon and shot Marsden twice in the stomach.

Marsden collapsed to the ground, loosing grip of his gun. Hopper charged him, kicking the gun out of his reach and holding him at gunpoint. With his other hand, he reached for his radio.

“Flo! Shots fired! I need two ambulances at Benny’s! Steve’s down and so is the suspect.” Hopper yelled into his radio.

***

Joyce, Karen, Jonathan and El had just finished eating at the cafeteria and returned to the ward, finding the Party ready to go home. They all bid their goodbyes to Joyce and Jonathan and headed for the elevator.

“So, Mike. Why didn’t you tell me El was your girlfriend?” Karen said, a sly smile crossing her face.

Mike’s eyes went wide and his face went red.

“What!?” Mike asked.

“El says she’s your girlfriend.” Karen said.

Mike thought for a moment.

“I uh...I don’t know. I just didn’t have the right moment?” Mike said, wording his answer more like a question.

Karen continued to smile and put a hand on Mike’s shoulder. She leaned in closed and whispered in his ear.

“I’m happy for you, Mike. She’s cute and seems nice.” Karen said.

“Uh, thanks, mom.” Mike said, still staring straight ahead at the elevator doors, desperately avoiding the eyes of everyone else.

The elevator doors opened on the first floor and the group made their way to the entrance, which was just past the entrance to the emergency room.

As they made their way their, the doors opened and two stretchers were wheeled in. Steve was on one, while Marsden was on the other.

As Marsden was wheeled into the emergency room, he got a brief glimpse of El and the people she was with.

“Was that the Harrington boy?” Karen said.

Suddenly, Hopper burst in through the doors and followed after the stretchers. Karen guides the group out of the hospital and back to the car, where they drove back to Mike’s house in silence.

Marsden laid down on his stretcher as the doctors and nurses did their work, doing his best to memorize the faces of the woman and kids the subject was with. He struggled briefly against the handcuffs that had him handcuffed to the gurney.

Now he just had to find out how to get out of the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! A Nancy scene! Thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Just need a bit of input: Do you guys think Mileven's relationship is moving a bit too fast, or are you guys happy with it so far?

Steve was beyond pissed off.

The doctors and nurses were swarming all around him like a hive of angry bees and all Steve wanted to do was tell them to fuck off. He was fine. Steve would’ve already gotten up off of the gurney if they hadn’t already had him strapped to a backboard and had a neck brace firmly locked around his neck.

“Guys, I’m fine. The vest took the bullet.” Steve said.

“Shut up, Harrington and let them do their work. You can still be hurt even though the vest did its job.” Hopper said.

Steve sighed and rolled his eyes. At the back of his mind, Steve knew Hopper was right, and, honestly, that might’ve been the thing that pissed him off the most. He liked Hopper, but the two had quickly developed a love/hate relationship.

A few rooms down, the doctors were working on Marsden, who was in worse shape than Steve was. He took two .38 Special rounds to the abdomen and was quickly circling the drain. He watched as a nurse hung two bags of blood on an IV pole.

“We need to get him to the OR now!” One of the doctors shouted.

Within a few moments, Marsden was off to the operating room, not sure whether he was going to survive.

***

Karen and the kids arrived back at the Wheeler house around 8 PM that night. Karen had wanted to drive the rest of the kids home then, but she allowed them one more hour in the basement.

Just before they headed down into the basement, she pulled Mike aside.

“And no funny business.” Karen said.

Mike grew bright red.

“Mom.” Mike said.

Karen smiled and headed for the living room.

“Ted! You’re never going to believe this!” She called out.

Mike rolled his eyes and shook his head as he headed down the basement stairs after the others.

Down in the basement, the Party arranged themselves into a circle on the floor.

“Okay Wheeler. What the fuck, why didn’t you tell us she was your girlfriend?” Dustin demanded.

Mike threw his hands up in a defensive pose.

“I didn’t know. El, why did you tell my mom that?” Mike said.

El was scared. She didn’t understand why Mike seemed to be so mad at her.

“I’m sorry I made you mad! She asked me if I was your girlfriend, and I don’t know what that means and I was scared that if I asked too many…” The words shot out of El’s mouth so fast that the boys almost had trouble keeping up.

“El, it’s okay.” Mike said.

“Really?”

Mike nodded his head.

“Yeah, of course. I’m sorry if I seemed mad. I wasn’t, I was just confused.” Mike said, giving her a soft smile.

“What is a ‘girlfriend’?” El asked Mike.

He blushed.

“Remember the discussion we had about husbands earlier?” Mike asked.

El nodded her head as Lucas and Dustin’s eyes went wide.

“Excuse me. What now?” Dustin said.

Mike turned to Dustin and shook his head. He turned back to El.

“Well, boyfriends ands girlfriends are the step in-between husband and wife. It’s a big deal. A real big deal. That’s why my mom and I acted so weird.” Mike said.

“Oh.” El said, blushing slightly.

She wished she had told him about this earlier. It would’ve saved her the embarrassment.

El hated being embarrassed. It made her feel vulnerable and scared. Whenever she embarrassed herself at the lab, bad things happened to her, so now whenever she felt embarrassed, she always expected something to go wrong or to hurt her. She didn’t know if she could ever get over this.

“So you don’t want me to be your girlfriend?” El asked, a sad tone in her voice.

“No! NO! I didn’t say that! I just meant…I just meant at the time…you weren’t my girlfriend.” Mike said.

“So I lied?” El asked, suddenly feeling guilty over lying to Mike’s mom.

“Kind of, but you had a good reason for it. You were protecting yourself. That’s called a white lie. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.” Mike said.

El nodded, kind of understanding what he was saying. Her guilt began to fade.

“So can I be your girlfriend?”

Mike’s heart immediately leapt up into his throat and he accidentally let out a small squeak, like a mouse. Lucas and Dustin just watched on with amusement.

Mike stared at El for a moment. He already knew his answer. His mind was literally screaming “YES” at him over and over, but for some reason he had trouble getting the words out.

El looked as if she was starting to get worried that Mike was going to say no, so Mike knew he couldn’t wait anymore.

“Of course, El. Who wouldn’t?” Mike said.

El’s eyes went wide and she immediately leapt into Mike’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Dustin leaned into Lucas.

“This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” Dustin said. He wrapped his arm around Lucas’ shoulder, pretended to cry. “Our little baby is growing up.”

Lucas shook Dustin’s arm off, shooting him a quick smile.

El still wasn’t one hundred percent sure what a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship really meant, but she was happy to learn along the way with Mike. She felt so safe and warm with his arms wrapped around her that she never wanted to leave them. She couldn’t believe how drastically and quickly her life had changed.

Finally, Mike and El separated, but only slightly. El was off of Mike’s lap now, much to Mike’s relief, but was still kneeling in front of him, her face inches from his, examining his face. She wanted to memorize every square of inch of it, so even when she was away from him, or asleep, a part of him would always be with her.

Little did El know, but Mike was doing the exact same thing.

“Kids! Time’s up! Time to go home.” Karen called from upstairs.

“We’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Mike said.

“Wait, El has to leave too, otherwise your mom would get suspicious.” Lucas said.

“Shit. You’re right.” Mike said.

“I have to leave?” El asked.

Mike shook his head quickly.

“No, of course not! But you need to pretend to leave. I’ll tell my mom that Dustin is going to walk you home, but actually he’ll sneak you around the side of the house and sneak you back in through the basement window.” Mike said, pointing out the window they would use to El.

El breathed a big sigh of relief and nodded her head.

“Okay.” She said, getting up with the others.

“So are you coming to school tomorrow?” Dustin asked.

Mike wasn’t sure. He was worried about leaving El home alone, scared that his mother would discover her, but he knew he had to return to school eventually.

Mike nodded his head.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Mike said.

Dustin nodded his head.

“Well, okay then. Let’s do this.” Lucas said.

Lucas, Dustin and El headed up the stairs, El looking back down at Mike for one last reassuring look, which he freely gave her. She smiled and disappeared upstairs.

Mike quickly ran over the basement window and opened it, waiting by it for Dustin and El.

It seemed like hours before he finally heard the rustling of leaves and grass. El popped her head in through the window.

“Hi, Mike.” She said, smiling at him.

Mike returned the smile and reached his arms up, helping her back into the basement. He said his thanks to Dustin and shut the window. El made her way over to her pillow for and took a seat on the blanket, patting a spot next to her for Mike to sit on.

Mike quickly made his way over to her and sat next to her. El scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. After a moment, Mike decided to wrap his arm around El’s shoulder and pull her in closer to him, which she couldn’t’ve been more happier about.

After a few minutes of enjoying the comfortable silence together, El spoke up.

“Mike?”

“Yes?”

“What do boyfriends and girlfriends do?” El asked.

Mike was expecting this question, and he wasn’t really sure how to answer it truthfully. He knew he had to be careful. It would be too easy to take advantage of El, and tell her they do things that she might not be ready for, but Mike wasn’t that type of guy. Not that type of guy at all.

“Well, they do a lot of the same things that normal friends do. They hang out with each other and stuff, but they also, like, hug and kiss and stuff.” Mike said.

“I know what ‘hug’ is, but what is ‘kiss and stuff’?” El asked.

_You and you’re stupid big mouth, Wheeler_.

“Uh, kissing is when two people push their lips against each other, or against their cheek.” Mike said.

He conveniently left out an explanation of what he meant by “stuff”, hoping that El wouldn’t notice.

She did.

“Okay. But what did you mean by ‘stuff’?”

_Damn, this girl is really bold._

“I meant…uh…like touching each other, and…you know, I don’t think we should be having this conversation right now. It’s a bit…too advanced for you right now.” Mike said.

El looked upset that Mike thought she wasn’t ready to talk about this kind of stuff, because she was really interested in this part of life. This part of life with Mike is the part that has brought her the most joy.

She was so upset that she decided to continue pushing Mike. She was feeling bold and strong for the first time in her life and she was happy about it. She wasn’t going to be anyone’s “subject” or “experiment” or someone to be talked down to.

“Touching like this?” El said, reaching out and taking Mike’s hand in hers.

She saw an expression of surprise quickly pass Mike’s face before he answered.

“Yes. Like that.” Mike said.

She could tell that wasn’t the full story, but El had given up on getting a straight answer out of Mike. She’d figure it out one way or another. It was only a matter of time.

After a few more minutes, Mike yawned.

“I think it’s time to go to bed. You okay, El?” He asked.

El nodded her head and smiled. Mike smiled back and left the pillow fort.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, El.” Mike said, turning to leave.

“Hey, Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“You never answered my question from earlier.” El said.

“Which…” Then Mike remembered she was talking about THE question, the one question that was sitting uncomfortably at the back of his mind all day.

_Oh shit here we go again_.

Mike was a few feet away from El now. If he turned quick enough, he could be up the stairs before she could protest…

Oh what the hell. If the girl is brave enough to ask the question twice, she deserves an answer.

“Yes. Of course I want to see you naked again, El.” Mike said.

He took a deep breath, completely shocked that he let those words leave his mouth. El smiled wide as the two blushed.

El reached for the bottom of her shirt. Before she could pull it up, Mike lunged forward, falling to his knees and lightly grabbing hold of El’s wrists, startling her.

“No! I mean, not right now. I just think, you know, we should get to know each other more before that happens again, okay?” Mike said.

El looked hurt. Did he think she was ugly?

“It’s not that I think you’re ugly, or anything. In fact, I think you're beautiful, El, the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. It’s just, I want to do this right, okay? I don’t know what it is about you, El, that makes you so different from all the other girls, but I’ve never felt this way about someone before, and I don’t think I ever will, and I’m terrified of ruining it.” Mike said.

El felt a tear come to her eye as she let go off the bottom of her shirt. She nodded her head.

“Okay. Whenever you’re ready, I’m ready.” El said.

_God help me_. Mike thought to himself. If the nagging problem in his pants had any say in the matter, he would be ready sooner rather than later.

Mike reached up and put his hand to El’s cheek, running his thumb over her soft and delicate skin for a moment before pulling her into a hug. He then stood up and headed upstairs to his room.

Lying in bed, Mike was having trouble sleeping. He had one thought going through his mind over and over again:

_Goddammit, _Mike thought to himself, _he should’ve kissed El_.

Down in the basement El was lying down, facing her night light. She thought to herself: _I wish he kissed me_.

***

Shortly after 10 PM that night, Steve finally passed all of his medical tests and was discharged from the hospital, to his great relief. He dressed himself in his police uniform, which was sporting a bullet hole.

Steve poked his finger through it, thinking how lucky he was he had a vest.

“Don’t worry, Harrington. We’ll get you a new one tomorrow.” Hopper said as he entered Steve’s room.

“Thanks, Chief.” Steve said.

“How ya doing?” Hopper asked.

“A bit sore, but I’ll manage, thanks.” Steve said.

“Not there, up there.” Hopper said, pointing at Steve’s head. “I might question it sometimes, but I know you have a brain up there.”

“I’m fine. Really.” Steve said.

“Well if you ever decide you aren’t ‘fine, really’ then come talk to me. I’m kind of an expert in the whole ‘trauma’ thing.”

“Thanks.” Steve said, smiling at Hopper.

Steve went to leave the room, but was stopped by Hopper.

“I mean it, Harrington. You don’t…you don’t want to end up like me.” He said.

Steve felt uncomfortable at how open Hopper was being with him. This wasn’t the Chief Hopper Steve knew from high school. Or was it? Was this always Chief Hopper? The Chief Hopper that only some people got to see? Steve would be wondering about this for a long time, not sure if he would ever get an answer.

Steve nodded his head but said nothing.

“Come on. I’ll drive you home.” Hopper said. “Think you can manage to get out to the parking lot without getting shot?”

***

Marsden’s eyes slowly opened. He took a deep breath. He survived surgery. He couldn’t feel any pain, which meant they must’ve loaded him full of painkillers. Great. The last thing Marsden needed now was a relapse.

He turned his eyes to his arms, which were still secured to his hospital bed with handcuffs. And they were tight. He would have to get creative if he was going to get out of this place. He glanced at the clock on the wall of his room, and, realizing how late at night it was, decided to sleep. There was nothing else he could do tonight.

But tomorrow he would plan his escape and he _would_ get that fucking bitch.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last update for the night! Goodnight everyone!

Nancy couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation she had with Lucy earlier. She knew that she would be able to return to Hawkins soon for Winter break, but she wasn’t sure if she could, or wanted to, wait that long.

To be honest, Nancy was sick of New York, and sick of NYU. She loved journalism, but the college life just wasn’t for her, and she was seriously starting to wonder if she endure another two more years.

Even if she was able to do two more years, even though she loved journalism, she wasn’t sure if that was the job for her after all.

As part of her journalism studies, she’s had to take numerous creative writing courses, and she has fallen in love with writing stories, and she’s been getting really good at it, too. She was starting to wonder if she should try and pursue a career as an author instead.

She knew her parents would be pissed, though. They were so excited when Nancy got her scholarship to NYU and she could imagine how disappointed they would be in her if she dropped out.

Nancy finally fell asleep, still unsure of what to do.

***

Nancy wasn’t the only one having trouble sleeping. El was having a rough night too.

She was having nightmares of her time back in the Lab. She was tossing and turning before she finally woke up when the nightmare got too intense. Tears streamed from her eyes and she looked all around the pillow fort for her teddy bear Mr. Snuggles, but couldn’t find him.

She felt the familiar pins and needles feeling of a panic attack coming on. She didn’t know at the time what a panic attack was, but she knew what they felt like and she hated them. She hated them more than anything.

She sat up in bed, wearing the pajamas that Mike had salvaged from Nancy’s room, and pulled her legs up to her chest and began to cry. All she wanted to do was find a way to get comfortable and go to sleep.

After a few minutes El decided to take a big risk. She was going to go upstairs and find Mike’s room.

El slowly crept up the basement stairs. She slipped past the basement door and froze in her tracks when she heard snoring coming from the living room. She peaked her head in the living room and saw a man asleep in a chair. She assumed this was Mike’s dad.

She had to hold back a small laugh at the way he looked in the chair and turned her attention back to the stairs, which she took just as cautiously as the basement stairs. She was on the second floor now, and this is where things could get dangerous. She was terrified of getting caught, but she need Mike, and she needed him now.

She tried one door and found the bathroom. The next was a room with an empty bed. She assumed this was the sister Mike had told her about. Finally, she found the right room.

Inside, Mike was sound asleep on his bed, facing the doorway. El slowly and quietly slipped into Mike’s room, closing the door behind herself.

She looked around his room. She saw a lot of different pictures on the walls, some of them with words and people she didn’t recognize. There was also a bookcase with a large amount of books. El had never read a book before, and she wasn’t sure if she ever would.

After having a look around Mike’s room, El walked over to Mike’s bed and stood next to him. She stoop low, close to his face, just listening to him breath for a minute or two before she decided it was time to wake him and ask for help.

She carefully poked Mike on the nose with her index finger. No reaction. She did it again. No reaction. She kept poking his nose until Mike reached up and, still asleep, slapped her hand away.

This wasn’t working. She was going to have to try something different.

El lifted one of her legs and put her knee slowly on the edge of Mike’s bed. Once it was securely in place, she did the same with the other one and crawled over Mike’s body to the other side of the bed that was against the wall.

Mike slept through all of this. He was a heavy sleeper.

Once on the other side of Mike, El kneeled next to back and leaned over to his cheek and pressed her lips to it. She held it there for a moment, hoping this would get some kind of reaction out of him, but it didn’t.

She pulled away. She was getting frustrated now. She put her hands on Mike’s arm and pushed him until he jumped awake.

“What? What’s going on?” Mike said before turning to El.

His eyes went wide when he found her in his bed.

“Mike.” El said sweetly, giving him a pleading smile, a tear falling out of her eye. He was finally awake and able to give her the help she desperately needed.

Mike sat up in bed, still confused, partly wondering if this was a dream. A really, really, good dream.

“What’s wrong, El?”

“I had a nightmare and couldn’t find Mr. Snuggles.” El said.

Mike furrowed his brow.

“‘Mr. Snuggles’?” Mike asked.

El nodded her head.

“My teddy bear. He helps me sleep.” El said.

“Oh.” Mike said.

“Can I sleep with you?”

Mike took a deep breath and swallowed hard. He nodded his head, not trusting his mouth to speak correctly. El smiled and climbed underneath Mike’s blanket. They were both lying on the bed now, facing each other.

Mike felt awkward sharing the same bed and felt the need to say something to break the awkward silence between the two.

“So you like snuggling with Mr. Snuggles?” Mike asked.

A confused look crossed El’s face.

“What do you mean? What’s ‘snuggling’? Snuggles is just his name. I got it from the tag on him.” El said.

“El, snuggling means, like hugging, but you’re lying down.” Mike said.

“Oh. Yeah. I like snuggling with him.” El said.

A brief moment passed before El spoke up again.

“Can I snuggle with you?” El asked.

Mike took a deep breath. He desperately wanted to say yes, but he was worried that a part of him would become a problem if El got any closer to him, but he couldn’t say no to El.

“Come here.” Mike said, holding his arms out for El.

El scooted closer to him and let him wrap his arms around her, with her resting her head just under his chin on chest. She could feel the soft beat of his heart, which she heard accelerate as she wrapped her arms around his back.

“Is this okay?” El asked. “Your heart is going fast.”

“Yeah, it’s great. That just means I like you. A lot.” Mike said.

A huge smile crossed El’s face.

“I like you a lot too.” El said.

A surge of bravery went through Mike. He took a deep breath and turned his head down, giving El a quick kiss on the head, and with that, the two quickly fell asleep.

***

The next morning Mike was the first to wake up. The first thing he saw when he woke up was El, still wrapped safely in his arms. He hated to wake her up, but he had no choice. He had to sneak her down to the basement quickly before anyone caught them.

Mike carefully took his hand and ran it up and down El’s arm.

“El?” Mike whispered quietly.

She moved a bit in her sleep, gripping Mike tighter. Mike smiled.

“El?” Mike said a bit more louder.

This time, he woke her up. She pulled back from him and sleepily looked him in the eye.

“We need to get you down to the basement before my parents or Holly wake up.” Mike said.

El groaned quietly, but nodded her head, agreeing with Mike. The two climbed out of bed and snuck down to the basement. Once El was comfortable in her pillow fort, Mike went upstairs to grab her breakfast. Eggos and orange juice, of course.

He returned and placed the tray down in front of El and laughed a little as she immediately dug into her breakfast with her bare hands.

“One of of these days I’m going to have to teach you how to use utensils.” Mike said.

El looked up at him with a confused look on her face.

“Don’t worry about it.” Mike said.

El nodded and continued to eat her way.

While El ate her breakfast, Mike decided to poke around the basement and try and find El’s teddy bear. He spent a good half an hour searching high and low for it before he finally found it stashed under the stairs, along with the bag El had brought with her from the lab. She must’ve put it there when she first got arrived and forgot about it.

Mike turned to El.

“Hey, El.” Mike said as he held up Mr. Snuggles.

El instantly held out her arms for the bear, but Mike held him back.

“Not with those syrupy hands.” Mike said, laughing. El looked down at her hands and laughed too.

“Thanks, Mike.” El said, her mouth still full.

Mike walked over to El and stashed Mr. Snuggles in the back of the pillow fort where he would be safe.

“Listen El, I have to go get ready for school. I’ll be gone until about 3 PM.” Mike said.

“When’s 3 PM?” El asked.

“Um…one second.” Mike said.

He went to the other side of the room and dug through a box, pulling out an old alarm clock. He returned to El and plugged it into the socket behind the pillow fort. He set the clock by his watch.

“When the clock says 3-0-0 I should be home or almost home, okay?” Mike said.

El nodded her head.

“Okay. I’m going to go get ready. I’ll see you later.”

***

Mike arrived at school just in time to meet up with Lucas and Dustin before their first class.

“You did show!” Dustin said. “I was worried you would be too busy sucking face with your girlfriend to show up.”

Mike gave him a playful punch on the arm. He then noticed that Lucas was staring off into the distance. Mike followed his gaze and found him staring at a red headed girl.

“That’s the new girl, Max.” Dustin said. “Lucas is obsessed with her.”

“I am not!” Lucas said.

“Whatever you say, man.” Dustin said.

Lucas returned his gaze to Max, only to be caught by her. She flipped him off.

“Stalker!” She yelled out as she headed to her first class of the day.

Lucas looked as if he was going to faint from embarrassment.

“Oh yeah. She’s totally in love with you.” Mike said.

“You are the expert, aren’t you, lover boy?” Dustins said.

***

Will spent most of the day after his surgery sleeping, even though the doctors wanted him to try and at least sit up in bed. Joyce was worried about him, but she was also worried about pushing him too far.

She was sitting at his bedside when Hopper walked in the room.

“Hey Hop.” Joyce said.

Hopper smiled. He always liked it when she called him “Hop”. It made his heart “hop”.

His smile quickly faded though, when he remembered the news he had to deliver to her.

“I just got off the phone with some big shot State Police detective. He said they examined the van inch by inch and they don’t think he’s the one that hit Mike. It looks more like he hit a car, like he said he did.” Hopper said.

“Then why did he shoot at you guys?”

“He has warrants in six states for murder.” Hopper said.

Joyce’s hands when to her mouth.

“I know. A guy like that right in our backyard. I couldn’t believe it either. You should see the Harrington kid. Thinks he’s going to get a medal for bagging the guy. Even though I’m the one that shot him.” Hopper said.

Hopper took a seat next to Joyce.

“How’s the kid doin’?” Hopper asked.

“To be honest, I’m a little worried about him. He seems depressed. He’s been sleeping all day.”

“I’d be depressed too if I got hit by a car and ended up in a cast for eight weeks.” Hopper said.

“I know, I just worry about him.”

Hopper put his hand on her shoulder.

“I know. I used to worry about the same things with Sara.” Hopper said.

The words just slipped out of his mouth. He took a deep breath and the mention of his late daughter’s name.

“I’m so sorry Hop. I forgot you had a daughter. This whole thing must be hard for you too.”

Hopper didn’t say anything for a moment.

“I’ll admit it does bring back some bad memories, but I’ll manage. I always do.” Hopper said.

“But do you? Do you really?” Joyce asked.

“Do I really what?” Hopper asked.

“Manage. Because from what I can see it doesn’t look like you manage it well at all.” Joyce said.

Hopper was taken aback by Joyce’s blunt, but true, words. He always knew she was the type of woman to speak her mind, but it still caught him off guard. He didn’t say anything, just sitting with her, watching Will sleep and heal.

***

The school day went by very fast for Mike, which surprised him. He quickly ran to his locker and put away the things he didn’t need and headed for the door.

“Hey! Wait up!” Dustin called out after Mike.

Mike waited at the door for Dustin and Lucas before they both headed out the door. They walked to the bike rack when they heard a car horn. Mike turned and was shocked to see his mom parked in the parking lot, with El in the back seat.

His mom looked _pissed_.

“Oh shit. She found her.” Mike said.

Mike approached the car and got in the passenger seat.

“Hi El.” Mike said.

“Mike.” El said sadly. Her eyes were red. She had been crying.

“I found her in the basement after I heard an alarm going off.” Karen said, not even looking at her son.

_Shit_. _If I didn’t give her that fucking clock none of this would’ve happened,_ Mike thought to himself.

“I’m sorry mom.” Mike said.

“What the hell was she doing down there?” Karen asked.

Mike paused for a moment.

“She lives down there.”

Karen turned to her son with wide eyes.

“She what?” Karen asked.

“Take us home and I’ll tell you the story on the way.” Mike said.

The ride home felt longer than it should’ve been and was very tense. Karen wasn’t believing the story about the lab at all. By the time they got home, no one was speaking.

Karen pulled into the driveway and parked the car.

“When we get inside, we’re calling the Chief and getting this whole thing sorted out.” She said.

“Mom, no. Please.” Mike said.

El was openly crying in the back seat. Karen held her hand up to Mike, signaling him not to say another word.

The three got out of the car and headed for the front door of the house. Once inside, they headed for the kitchen, where they smelt food cooking. A confused look crossed Karen’s face.

“Ted?” Karen called out. It couldn’t be Ted. He never cooked.

Once they entered the kitchen, they found Nancy standing at the stove, cooking. She turned to them.

“Nancy?” Karen said.

“Hi mom.” Nancy said.


	8. Chapter 8

Karen and Mike stood in the kitchen, staring in absolute shock at the sudden and unexpected arrival of Nancy. El, who had never met Nancy, knew who she was because of a picture she had seen in Mike’s room.

She slowly walked up to Mike and slipped her hand into his. On any other day, Mike would’ve gone bright red and nervous, with his palms going sweaty immediately, but right now he didn’t even notice the contact. He was too focused on Nancy.

After the sudden shock had warn off, Mike ran towards her, his hand slipping out of El’s light grasp, and pulled Nancy into a tight hug.

It had been months since he had seen her and he had missed her so much. He had needed her help and advice more than ever recently, and now that she was here, he could get it. For a few moments as the two embraced, all of Mike’s problems dissolved away from his mind and he was at peace.

“I missed you so much.” Mike said.

“I missed you too.” Nancy said.

They pulled away from each other after a moment and Nancy noticed El.

“Um…hi.” Nancy said as she turned to Mike. “And this is…”

“Oh, uh, this is El. M…my girlfriend.” Mike said, blushing.

Nancy’s eyes went wide.

“Your…oh wow.” Nancy said, glancing back and forth between a nervous El and Mike.

Nancy leans in close to Mike and whispers:

“How’d you manage that?”

“I’m a stud. Haven’t you noticed?” Mike said jokingly.

Nancy and Mike share a quick laugh before Nancy turned to El.

“Hi. I’m Nancy.” She said.

“Hi.” El said.

Nancy then turned her attention to her mother, who was still standing in the doorway and appeared to be glowing mad. You could almost see the anger radiating out of her body.

“Everything okay, mom?” Nancy asked.

Karen took a deep breath.

“No. Everything is _not _okay. First I find El…then…you…what the hell are you doing home? Shouldn’t you be at school?” Karen asked.

Nancy was taken aback at the anger in her mother’s voice. She expected her mom to be mad, but not this mad.

“Nice to see you too, mom.” Nancy said. “I had a meeting with one of my professors this morning. We talked about my future and I decided that journalism isn’t in my future.”

The anger in Karen increased another notch, but the fear inside her began to rise as well. She felt as if somehow overnight her family had started to fall apart. First he finds this strange girl living in her home, and now her daughter was throwing her future away.

“You didn’t…”

“I dropped out, mom.” Nancy said.

Karen slowly walked to the kitchen table and took a seat, completely overwhelmed by anything. She put her hands in her head and leaned her elbows on the table.

“Mom?” Nancy said, approaching her mother.

Karen took a deep breath and without moving, said:

“Nancy, we’ll discuss this later. First we…first I…”

Karen said nothing for a moment before standing up and heading for the phone. She quickly dialed 9-1-1.

“Mom! No!” Mike called out.

Karen put her hand up, silencing her son.

“I need to speak to Chief Hopper immediately.” Karen said. “I don’t care where he is or what he’s doing, I need him at my house now!”

After a tense, silent moment, Karen spoke again.

“Finally. Thank you!” Karen said as she hung up the phone.

She turned to everyone. The Chief is one his way, and we are all going to have a long discussion about this whole lab thing.

“Wait, so you believe us?” Mike said, hopefully.

Karen laughed and shook her head.

“Oh no. I don’t believe a damn word of it, but I made some calls before we left earlier. No one seems to know who this girl is. Your principal says there’s no new student at your school. I want the truth, Michael. Who is she?” Karen said.

Mike took a seat at the table, El following after, while Nancy stood at the stove, watching the food she was cooking while also listening in on their conversation.

“I told you. She told you. Everything we told you was the truth.” Mike said.

Karen threw her hands up in the air.

“Fine! If you won’t tell me the truth, you better tell the Chief the truth! You don’t want to end up in jail, do you?” Karen said.

El stepped close to Mike and gripped the arm of his shirt, terrified.

***

Marsden had spent the better part of the day analyzing every square inch of his hospital room, looking for anything he could use to escape, but had no results. Finally, he had an idea.

“Hey! Babysitter!” Marsden called out.

Officer Callahan stepped into the room.

“What do you want.” Callahan said coldly.

“I get a phone call. I know my rights.”

Callahan rolled his eyes and reached for his radio.

“Chief, the prisoner’s asking for his phone call. What do you want me to do.?” Callahan said.

For a moment there was no response.

“Give the asshole his call, who gives a shit. He’s up shit creek anyway.” Hopper said.

“Hopper! No cursing on the radio! How many times do I have to tell you!” Flo said over the radio, earning a chuckle from Callahan.

Callahan walked over to Marsden’s bedside and reached for the phone, holding the receiver up to Marsden’s ear.

“What number?” Callahan asked.

Marsden gave him the number and after a moment someone answered.

“Martin Brenner.” Brenner said.

“Hey, Marty, it's Alex, Alex Marsden. I got busted by the Hawkins PD and I need you to represent me.”

Brenner, realizing how dire the situation was, decided to play along.

“Is anyone listening?”

“No, they’ve been treating me just fine. I’m down at Hawkins Memorial ICU. One of the pigs…I mean fine officers of Hawkins put a couple rounds in me.” Marsden said.

“I’ll said someone down to get you out. Never call this number again.” Brenner said as the line went dead.

“All done.” Marsden said.

Callahan hung the phone up.

“My lawyer’s on his way.”

Callahan rolled his eyes.

“Wonderful.” Callahan said as he left Marsden’s room.

Marsden sighed in relief. He was going to get out and finish the job.

***

Mike, El and Karen sat around the kitchen table in tense silence, waiting for Hopper to arrive. Nancy had decided to have her dinner in the living room to give the three the privacy they seemed to need, although she planned on eavesdropping, of course.

Finally, the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Nancy called out from the living room.

Nancy got up from her seat and went to the door, letting Hopper in.

“Nancy. Nice to see you.” Hopper said.

“Nice to see you too, Chief. They’re in the kitchen.” Nancy said.

Hopper headed for the kitchen.

“Be nice to Mike, please?” Nancy asked.

Hopper stopped and glanced over his shoulder toward Nancy.

“No promises.”

Hopper stepped into the kitchen and took his hat off. Karen got up from her seat and greeted Hopper, guiding him to an empty seat.

“Can I get you anything?” Karen asked.

Hopper shook his head.

“No. I think we should just get to the point. I’ve been kind of busy the past couple of days.” Hopper said.

Karen nodded her head.

“Oh. Right. Well.” Karen said, as she took her seat. “This girl, who claims to be called Eleanor…”

“El!” Mike said. “Her name is El!”

“Mike!” Karen said, silencing him. “Fine. El. I found El living in my basement. Mike said she was a new girl at school and his girlfriend. I called around, including the principal, and no one has heard of her.” Karen said.

Hopper kept glancing between Mike and El, but his eyes kept falling on the small, terrified looking girl. Hopper couldn’t help but think of his daughter.

Karen then retold the story that Mike and El had told her about the lab and the goings on. Hopper tried to listen intently, but his eyes kept sliding over to El, who was squirming in her seat. He just wanted to put a hand on her shoulder and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

“Well that’s a hell of a story.” Hopper said when Karen had finished.

“So what are you going to do?” Mike asked.

Hopper got up from his seat.

“I’m going to take her down to the station and get her fingerprinted. Hopefully she’s in the system. She’s probably a runaway with a worried family out there somewhere.” Hopper said.

Hopper motioned toward El, signaling for her to come with him.

El turned to Mike, unsure what she should do, but Mike was defeated. He had no other ideas. His goal was to protect her “at all costs” and he failed. Mike nodded toward El and reached his hand out, squeezing El’s.

“You should go with him.” Mike said.

El looked as if she was going to cry. She threw herself into Mike’s arms, and they stayed like that for a moment before Hopper cleared his throat.

“Time to go, kid.” Hopper said. “There’s nothing to worry about. Everything will be just fine.”

El nervously followed Hopper out of the house, as tears began to stream down Mike’s faced. He turned to his mom.

“I hope you’re happy mom. You’ve ruined not only my life, but hers! They’re going to send her straight back to the lab! All because of you!” Mike said, storming up the stairs to his room.

Hopper and El got into his truck and drove off from the Wheeler house.

“So. Kid. El really your name?” Hopper asked.

El nodded her head.

They sat in silence for a moment.

“You hungry?” Hopper asked.

El nodded her head again.

“The silent type, I take it.” Hopper said. “What do you want?”

“Eggos?” El asked.

Hopper laughed in surprise, taking El off guard.

“Frozen waffles? I was thinking burgers. How’s that sound?” Hopper said.

El shrugged her shoulders.

“I’ll take that as a “whatever”. Burgers it is.” Hopper said.

***

Steve stepped into the Greasy Spoon wearing his normal civilian clothes, having been given the next week off by Hopper. Well, not really given so much as _ordered_ to take the next week off.

Steve took a seat at one of the booths and picked up the menu, glancing through it.

“What can I get ya?” A voice said.

Steve looked up a the source of the voice and felt his heart leap into his throat. Standing before him, was a beautiful dirty blonde girl with some of the brightest blue eyes he had ever seen.

“Uh, hi.” Steve said, dumbfounded.

The girl rolled her eyes.

“Hi. So what can I get you?” The girl asked again.

Steve quickly returned his eyes to the menu.

“Uh, I’ll take the…uh…cheeseburger, medium rare. With a Coke.” Steve said.

The girl nodded at Steve, giving him a slight smile.

“Coming right up!” She said.

Before she could walk away, Steve spoke up.

“Hey! Wait!” Steve said.

The girl stopped and turned around.

“Want something else?” The girl asked.

“Yeah. Your name? I’m Steve.” Steve said, trying to put on his best smile.

Robin took a deep breath and looked him up and down.

“Tweedledee.” The girl said, walking away.

Steve chuckled and shook his head.

***

Hopper pulled into Benny’s and got out of his truck, walking with a nervous El into the restaurant. He took her to a booth and was greeted by Benny.

“Hey Chief. The usual?” Benny said.

Hopper nodded his head. Benny motioned toward El.

“And for the girl?”

“Uh, the same, I guess.” Hopper said.

Benny nodded his head and went back to start their order.

The two sat in an uneasy silence for a minute, El, refusing to meet Hopper’s gaze.

“So, kid. What was the lab like?” Hopper said.

He didn’t really believe her story, but he thought if he was going to get any kind of information out of her, he would have to play along. He hated lying to the kid, but he had a job to do.

El perked up at Hopper’s sudden change of heart.

“Bad. The bad man hurt me.” El said.

Hopper took a deep breath.

“Hurt you how?” Hopper asked.

El told him everything, about how they would withhold food from her, leave her in the dark for days and kept her confined to a small cell for just about her entire life.

As Hopper listened to the story, he started to become very uneasy with how well thought out and detailed her story was. He could feel the hairs standing up on the back of his neck. If this girl was lying, she was really, really good at it.

“But they didn’t…do other things, did they?” Hopper asked.

El shook her head. Hopper breathed a sigh of relief, shocked at how he was almost starting to believe her.

Soon their order arrived and they ate in relative silence.

***

Steve had just finished his dinner and was preparing to leave. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a $10 bill and left it for a tip. He approached “Tweedledee” and asked her for her name one last time before he left.

“Like I said. Tweedledee’s the name. Old family name.” She said, giving Steve a sly smile.

“I’m going to come here everyday and ask your name until you finally give it to me.” Steve said.

Tweedledee smiled.

“Good.” She said as she picked the $10 bill up off of the table and holding it in front of Steve’s face. “Means more tips for me.”

***

Mike was still up in his room, crying his eyes out, worried sick about El.

Downstairs, Ted had just arrived home from work and met Karen and Nancy in the kitchen.

“Nancy! Well isn’t this…a surprise…” He said.

“Take a seat, Ted.” Karen said.

Ted did as he was told. Karen the motioned for Nancy to tell Ted what she had told Karen. By the time Nancy was done with her story, Ted was fuming.

“How could you throw your life away like that? Tomorrow you are calling the school and begging to come back.” Ted said, getting up from his seat.

Nancy got up from her seat as well.

“No, I’m not, dad. I told you. I’ve had a change of heart. I’m going to become a writer.”

Ted nodded his head.

“That’s right. You are going to become a writer. A writer for a major newspaper after you graduate from college.”

Nancy scoffed and shook her head, leaving the kitchen and running up the stairs to her room, slamming her door.

“What are we going to do about them, Ted? We’re loosing control of them.” Karen said.

Ted threw his hands up in defeat.

“I don’t fucking know, Karen. I really don’t.”

Upstairs, Nancy laid on her bed, holding on tightly to a pillow, when a knock came at her door.

“What!?” Nancy shouted.

“It’s Holly. Can I come in?” She asked.

Nancy’s face softened.

“Of course.” She said, sitting up in her bed.

The seven-year-old Holly stepped into the room and jumped into Nancy’s lap, giving her a huge hug.

“I missed you, Ladybug. It’s so good to see you.” Nancy said.

The two pulled apart and Nancy noticed that Holly had been crying.

“All the yelling downstairs upset you, Ladybug?” Nancy asked.

Holly nodded her head.

“It’s upset me too, but everything’s going to be okay.”

“Are you sure?” Holly asked.

“Of course I’m sure.” Nancy said.

But she wasn’t.

***

Will was slowly starting to get better. He was able to walk on crutches a bit, although he had to wear a large, uncomfortable cast on his injured leg.

A doctor stepped into the room.

“So I’ve gone over Will’s chart and his recent tests results, and I’m satisfied that he’ll be ready to go home tomorrow.” The doctor said.

Joyce, Jonathan and Will all shared happy glances.

“A nurse will come in and give you instructions on how to care for your cast until you get it off in eight weeks, okay?” The doctor said.

***

While the Byers family was celebrating in Will’s room, Marsden was waiting impatiently for his “lawyer” to show up and rescue him. Just as he was about to give up hope, Callahan let a large man into the room.

“So you must be my ‘lawyer’.” Marsden said, smiling wide.

“That’s right.” The man said. “The name’s Spears.”

Spears took a seat next to Marsden.

“Now before I help you, do you have any information for me? The good doctor is getting impatient.” Spears said.

Marsden nodded his head enthusiastically.

“I saw the girl. In the hospital when they wheeled me in. She was with a brown haired woman and a black haired boy who kinda looked like a frog.” Marsden said.

“Is that it?” Spears asked.

“Yeah, but it’s something, right?”

Spears shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess.” Spears said as he got up from his seat.

“Good. Now get me out of these fucking cuffs. They’re killing me.” Marsden said.

“Sorry, man. Not gonna happen.” Spears said.

Marsden’s eyes went wide as Spears pulled the pillow out from underneath Marsden and began to smother him with it. Marsden tried to fight, but was unable to, and was dead within two minutes.

Spears replaced the pillow behind Marsden’s head and left the hospital room, no one knowing that Marsden was dead.

***

After eating, Hopper and El arrived at the police station. Hopper lead El through the station to the booking area, where he would take her fingerprints. At the booking area, Hopper grabbed an ink pad and a fingerprint card.

“I’m just going to take your fingerprints. Don’t worry; it won’t hurt a bit.” Hopper said.

Hopper inked up El’s left hand and rolled each finger on the card, only to discover no fingerprints. This caught Hopper by surprise. He repeated the process with El’s right hand and got the same results.

_This girl has no fingerprints, _Hopper thought to himself. He wiped the ink off of her hands and examined each finger, finding that at some point her fingerprints had been removed, although he wasn’t sure how. They didn’t seemed to be burned off or anything.

Then he noticed something on El’s wrist, something that no one had thought to mention to him. He pulled up her sleeve and revealed her tattoo.

“What’s this, kid?” Hopper asked her.

“My name. Eleven. They gave it to me at the lab.” El said.

Hopper’s heart began to race and suddenly he really _was_ starting to believe the kid’s story. He took a deep breath.

“Come with me, kid.” Hopper said.

***

Mike sat up in his bed and wiped the tears out of his eyes. He was so angry at his mom and was scared out of his mind for El, who he assumed was already back at the lab.

Suddenly, he had an idea. He rushed over to his closet, and, after digging through a bunch of dirty clothes and old toys, found what he was looking for: his old Supercom.

None of the boys had used them in about three years, but Mike thought he would give it a shot. He replaced the batteries and tuned it to their normal frequency.

“Code red! Code red! Over!” Mike called out into the radio.

He waited a brief moment.

“That you, Mike?” Dustin said over the radio.

“Dustin? You kept your radio on?” Mike asked.

“Of course I did. So what happened?” Dustin asked.

Mike relayed the events of the day to Dustin.

“Shit man, I’m sorry.”

“We need to help her somehow.” Mike said.

“How, Mike? If she really is back at the lab…” Dustin said.

“Dustin! I swore to protect her ‘at any cost’. I have to go after her!” Mike said.

After a moment, Dustin spoke up.

“Let’s talk about this tomorrow.”

***

Hopper and El drove overnight to somewhere Hopper said they might be able to get help. Shortly before dawn, Hopper pulled in front of an old warehouse and got out of the truck, motioning for El to follow.

Hopper stepped up to the front door and banged on it.

After a moment:

“Look up at the camera!” A voice called from the intercom.

Hopper rolled his eyes.

“Goddammit Murray! It’s me! Let us in!” Hopper said.


	9. Chapter 9

Murray opens the door and lets Hopper and El in.

“Who’s the girl?”

“Good question.” Hopper said.

“That’s not the kind of response I like, Hop.” Murray said.

“You don’t like much of anything Murray.”

“True, true.”

The three take a seat in Murray’s living room.

“What do you know about the Department of Energy Lab out in Hawkins?” Hopper asked.

“Ooh. Shady as fuck.” Murray says as he gets up and heads over to a filing cabinet, pulling out a folder.

He tosses it to Hopper.

“It’s not actually run by the DOE. It’s a front for the CIA. Used to be used as a part of MKULTRA until they shut that program down in ’79.” Murray said.

“I thought they shut it down in ’73.” Hopper said.

Murray laughed.

“Do you really believe everything the government tells you?” Murray says. “Oh, wait, you ARE the government.”

“Let it go Murray. I’m a small town cop.”

“I know, I know, I’m just giving you shit. Anyways, after they shutdown MKULTRA, they installed this company man, Brenner’s his name I think. Rumor is they are experimenting on kids up there. Don’t know why though. ”

“Bad man.” El said.

Hopper turned to El.

“That’s the bad man you were talking about?”

El nodded her head. Murray sits forward in his seat, a shocked look on his face.

“Wait. This kid is from the lab, isn’t she?” Murray said.

Hopper glared at Murray.

“I have so many questions.” Murray said.

“No. You don’t. She’s been through a lot, Murray. Leave her alone.”

Murray sighs, but relents.

“Fine, fine. But yeah, definitely some shady shit going on down there. You going to do something about it?”

Hopper shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll do what I can.” Hopper said. “But in the mean time, we’re going to need to crash here for a bit. I’m exhausted.”

***

At school, Mike and Dustin relayed what had happened the night before to Lucas, who was both worried about El, but happy that the matter seemed to be out of their hands.

“I don’t know guys. Maybe we overreacted earlier. Maybe everything will be fine.”

“Are you serious, Lucas?” Mike said. “Don’t you remember? The whole paper trail thing?”

Lucas sighed and threw up his hands in defeat.

“Listen, guys, I have no idea what to do about this. I’m sorry.” Lucas said.

“Well we have to do something.” Mike said.

Dustin suddenly got really excited.

“We could stage a breakout at the Lab!” Dustin said.

Lucas, and even Mike, turned to Dustin and looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

“Or not.” Dustin said.

“After school I’m gonna confront the Chief. Get him to let El come back home.” Mike said.

“Are you crazy? Have you ever met the Chief?” Dustin asked.

“Yeah, last night, dumbass.” Mike said.

Dustin shook his head as the bell rang.

“Shit. I’ll see you guys later.” Mike said.

“Did you hear him say ‘come back home’?” Lucas asked Dustin after Miked had left.

“Aren’t they so cute?” Dustin said, before thinking a moment. “Mileven!”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Mileven! That’s what we’ll call them!” Dustin said.

***

Later in the school day, Lucas decided he had to do something. Max was all he could think about, even with all the drama surrounding Mileven going on. During one of the breaks in between classes, Lucas walked up to her.

“Uh, hey.” Lucas said.

“Oh. Hi, Stalker.” Max said, removing some books from her locker.

“I’m not stalking you!” Lucas said.

“Certainly seems like it to me.” Max said.

Lucas sighed.

“I just wanna be friends. Whats so wrong about that?” Lucas asked.

Max closed her locker and turned to Lucas.

“I don’t really do the whole ‘friend’ thing. Sorry.” Max said.

Max turned to leave, but Lucas grabbed her wrist.

“Just hear me out.” Lucas said.

Max turned around, pulled her arm free, and pushed him to the ground.

“Don’t ever grab me again, Stalker.” Max said as she walked away.

Lucas lifted his head off of the floor.

“Sorry!” Lucas said.

He rested his head back down on the floor.

“Badass.” Lucas said to himself, smiling.

***

After another long drive, Hopper and El arrived back in Hawkins, and his radio suddenly came to life.

“Trying again, Chief Hopper, go straight to Memorial Hospital.” Flo said, sounding tired and irritated.

Hopper grabbed his radio.

“This is the Chief. What’s going on?” Hopper asked.

“Jesus, Chief.” Callahan said over the radio. “Somebody offed the prisoner. Right under my nose…”

“I’m sorry, someone ‘offed’ him? You mean someone murdered him?” Hopper asked.

“Yes sir.”

“Jesus Christ.” Hopper said to himself. “I’m on my way.”

But instead of heading down the road he would normally go to get to the hospital, Hopper took a different road and headed out into a wooded area.

“Listen, kid. I can’t believe I’m going to do this, but I’m taking you to my family’s old cabin. I believe you, kid. You’ll be staying with me until we sort this whole thing out.” Hopper said.

A huge smile crossed El’s face and she attempted to hug Hopper, who shook her off, doing his best not to laugh or smile.

“Careful kid! I’m trying to drive!”

After a short drive, they were at the entrance to the path that led to the cabin. Hopper and El made their way up to the cabin and entered it. Hopper led El to her new room.

“It’s not much. I’ll have to get some stuff from my trailer to make it more homely but…”

“It’s great. Thank Mr. Chief.” El said.

Hopper couldn’t help but let a chuckle slip out.

“Hopper. Just call me Hopper, kid.”

After teaching El a special knock he would use to identify himself, and telling her not to leave or open he door for anyone but him, he left and headed for the hospital.

***

Spears parked his car outside of Hawkins High and watched, looking for anyone that might match the description Marsden had given him before Spears killed him.

Finally, a kid with a frog like face left the school and entered a car.

“Bingo.” Spears said.

He started his car and followed the car, being sure to stay at least two car lengths behind to avoid being made. He followed the car for a while until it pulled into a home. Spears memorized the address as he drove by.

He would be back later.

***

After dropping El off at the cabin, Hopper headed straight to the hospital and to Marsden’s room, which was taped off and being combed over with a fine tooth comb by crime scene techs.

He met with Callahan outside of the ward.

“What’s going on?” Hopper asked.

“The State’s taken over the investigation. Because of the shooting, they’re worried it might’ve been one of us.” Callahan said.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” Hopper said, making a beeline for the State Police detective who seemed to be in charge.

“You in charge here?” Hopper asked.

“You must be Chief Hopper. I’m Detective Atwood.” Atwood said, holding out his hand.

Hopper refused to shake it.

“I don’t care who you are. None of my guys did this. We’re good cops.” Hopper said.

“I’m sure you are, but this is just standard procedure. There’s nothing to…” Atwood was interrupted when Hopper walked away.

“Standard procedure my ass.” Hopper said to myself. “I’ll be back at the station, Callahan.”

***

Ted returned home early from work. He and Karen had discussed the Nancy situation late into the night and had decided to give her an ultimatum.

The three sat down at the kitchen table.

“Nancy, your mother and I talked last night, and we feel the need to stress again just how important your education is. It’s fine if you want to be a writer, but you need to finish college first.” Ted said.

Nancy shook her head.

“You don’t understand, dad.” Nancy said.

“Maybe I don’t, but that’s the decision and that’s final.” Ted said.

Nancy stood up from her seat.

“Dad, I’m adult. I can make my own decisions.” Nancy said.

Ted looked to Karen, who averted her gaze from his. He looked back to Nancy.

“Nancy, either you go back to school, or you need to find some place else to live.” Ted said.

Nancy’s face dropped.

“Your kicking me out? Seriously?” Nancy said.

Nancy turned to her mom.

“So you’re in on this too?” Nancy said.

Karen slowly turned her head to Nancy and nodded.

“I can’t fucking believe you guys. Don’t worry. I’ll be gone by tonight.” Nancy said, rushing up to her room to pack her bags.

Karen burst into tears.

***

Mike burst into the police station and headed straight for the Chief’s office.

“Excuse me, son. You can’t just…” Flo started to say before giving up.

Mike burst into Hopper’s office and slammed the door shut behind himself.

“We need to talk Chief.” Mike said sternly, trying to act tougher than he really was.

“Calm down kid. Listen…” Hopper said.

“No! You listen! I love El, and I promised to protect her, and that’s what I’m going to do, and there is nothing you can do to stop me, so you should just…”

“I believe her, Wheeler.” Hopper said.

Mike’s mouth dropped.

“You what?”

“I believe her story. All of it. Come with me, Wheeler.” Hopper said.

***

Steve stepped into the Greasy Spoon again, and sure enough, Tweedledee was working again. He smiled at her as he took his seat.

“Same as last night?” She asked, not too amused at Steve.

“Yup. And for many more nights to come.” Steve said.

Tweedledee groaned as she wrote down his order and turned to leave.

“Robin.” She said as she walked away.

“What?” Steve asked.

Robin stopped and turned around.

“My name’s Robin.”

***

Mike and Hopper made their way up the path and to the cabin, where Hopper used the distinct knock on the door. After a moment, the door opened, revealing El, who squealed with delight when she saw Mike and pulled him into the cabin and into a deep hug.

“Hey El.” Mike said, as he gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

Hopper cleared his throat, reminding them that he was there. They pulled apart, both blushing.

El grabbed Mike’s hand.

“Come see my room.” El said.

El led Mike to the back of the cabin and showed him her sparse room, with some old, musty blankets and window curtains acting as a makeshift bed.

“Hopper said he’s going to get me somethings to make it a real room.” El said.

But before El could say anything else, Mike turned her around, wrapped one arm around her waist and placed the other gently on the side of her face, slowly pulling her face closer to his and smashing their lips together in a deep and passionate kiss.

After a minute or two, Hopper caught them, and they pulled apart.

“Time to go Wheeler.” Hopper said.

“But…” Mike said.

“No buts. Let's go.” Hopper said, pointing toward the door.

Mike gave El once last quick peck on the lips and left, leaving Hopper and El alone.

“I can’t wait to do that again.” El said, looking at Hopper with a huge smile on her face.

_What the fuck have I gotten myself into?_ Hopper thought to himself.

***

Steve walked back to his apartment with a huge smile on his face. He finally got her name, and only on the second day too! He really expected to have to show up everyday for months to get it.

He was spaced out, thinking about Robin as he approached his apartment.

“Hey Steve.” A voice called out, shaking Steve out of his thoughts.

It was Nancy. _What the hell was she doing here?_ Steve thought to himself.

“Nancy. Hi.” Steve said.

“My parents kicked me out. Mind if I stay at your place for a while?” Nancy asked.

“Geez. Nancy Wheeler getting kicked out. What the hell did you do?” Steve said.

Nancy looked hurt.

“Sorry.” Steve said. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

“It’s a long story, Steve. I’ll tell you later.” Nancy said.

Steve nodded his head and fished his keys out of his pocket.

***

Mike couldn’t sleep; he was too happy knowing that El was safe. He knew that the Chief must’ve been armed to the teeth, so he must be prepared for everything.

He kept thinking back to the night he and El shared a bed, and he missed her warmth in his bed. It was in that moment that he decided to sneak out and stay with El. Just one night. Hopper wouldn’t catch him if he was careful, right?

Mike quietly put on a sweatshirt and opened his door. He crept down the stairs and quietly opened the front door, and left, shutting the door behind himself. He quickly made his way down the sidewalk on the way to Hopper’s cabin.

After a long walk, Mike was finally there. It took him a minute to remember which window was El’s. He certainly didn’t want to accidentally crawl into Hopper’s bed. He would’t leave the cabin alive if that happened.

After finding her window, he tapped on it lightly. Soon enough, El’s face popped up in the window and a big smile crossed her face. She opened the window.

“Mike! What are you doing here?” She said quietly.

“I’m spending the night with you.” Mike said.

***

A car quietly pulled down the street and parked a few houses down from the Wheeler house. Spears got out, and spotted all of the lights in the house were out. He smiled to himself.

“This should be an easy one.” He said to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand Mileven is officially born! :)


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning Mike was awoken by the morning sun poking through the trees. The warmth on his face perfectly complemented the warmth he felt emanating from El’s body as she laid wrapped safely in his arms.

He took in a deep breath, smelling the shampoo that El had used the night before in the cabin’s old, ice cold shower. Strawberries. Mike never really liked strawberries, but right then they might just have been his favorite fruit.

He continued to lie there, listening as El took breath after breath, relishing each and every second and attempting to scratch every second into his memory forever. He wanted this memory to stick with him forever, and it would. In the years to come when life would get hard he would come back to this exact moment in time, these few early morning minutes of pure bliss, and be able to feel the warmth of the sun and El’s body all over again.

He knew he had to wake up El and say goodbye, but it was hard to say goodbye, not just to her, but this moment he was experiencing.

He only moved when he started to hear sounds coming from Hopper’s side of the cabin.

Mike carefully unravelled himself from El, who, in her sleep, attempted to reach out and pull him back in to their shared embrace. He took her hands in his and spoke her name quietly, right next to her ear to try and wake her up.

She stirred slightly, but didn’t wake up. Mike would see the small hairs on the back of her neck stand up, unsure if this was just from his breath, or the sound of his voice whispering her name.

He whispered her name again, enjoying the effect he seemed to be having on her, even when sleeping.

This time, he got more of a response out of El. She gripped at the blanket and quietly moaned out Mike’s name.

Mike took in a sharp breath through his nose at the almost seductive way El spoke his name. He had no idea what was currently going on in her brain, but he desperately wanted to be a part of it.

He decided that if he didn’t want to contribute any further to his growing problem, then playtime would have to be over. He carefully bunched up some of El’s blanket over his waist and sat up in bed, making sure El wouldn’t notice his problem.

He reached out and carefully shook her arm.

“El. I have to go.” Mike said.

El took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes, smiling when she spotted Mike.

“Mike.” She said, this time in her normal tone of voice.

Mike swallowed hard and smiled back at her, hoping his face didn’t betray the effect he was having on her. If she were any other girl, a girl who wasn’t cooped up in a prison for all of her a life, a girl who was aware of social norms, a girl who knew about sex and relationships then…

Mike quickly shook the thought from his head, angry at himself. He didn’t want “any other girl”, he wanted El, whatever she might be. There would be time for the things he was thinking about down the road, but now El didn’t need a horny, hormonal teenager.

She needed a man who would stand by her through the worst storms and roughest seas, someone who could be a shoulder to cry on when the pain of her past becomes too great, a man who would put her fist and foremost, above everything, even himself.

People had been calling him a “wonderful young man” for many years now, but he never really believed him. He felt as if he was only ever a boy in a man’s shoes, but now, staring down at El, staring down at the girl he loved and was sure that someday he would marry, Mike knew he was a man. A man in a man’s shoes.

Mike repeated himself, telling El that he had to go. The smile on her face quickly faded and she pouted her lips in disappointment. Mike couldn’t help himself but lean down and kiss the pout away.

After the two separated, Mike gave her one last smile and climbed out her window. He started walking through the rough woods, turning back to get one last glance of her at the window, knowing that she would be there watching him.

_I love you, El_. Mike thought to himself.

Mike trudged his way through the forest and finally found himself back in civilization. He took the sidewalks the rest of the way home, finding himself in front of his house sooner than he expected.

He paused for a moment at the front door, noticing that it was slightly ajar.

_Did I really leave it that way? _Mike thought to himself. _How careless of me_.

Mike pushed the door open quietly, hoping that somehow his parents would still be asleep and he would be able to get back up to his room without being spotted.

When he entered the house, he found it quiet. A bit too quiet to be honest.

He slowly crept to the stairs and made his way up the stairs. When he reached the second floor, a strange smell hit his nose. It was a strange, burnt chemical smell. Whatever it was, it immediately made Mike uneasy.

Uneasy enough to go and check on his parents.

He slowly walked down the hallway and made his way to his parent’s room. The door was firmly closed, as it was on most nights. Mike carefully turned the knob and slowly opened the door.

His parents were asleep in bed.

“Mom? Dad?” Mike said.

He didn’t get a response from them. He stepped into the room and approached the bed and recoiled at the sight he saw.

He first saw his father, a small bloody entry wound on the side of his head, his nose and mouth stained with blood that had poured out of each and pooled on the bed. His mouth was wide open, as if in a perpetual scream. One eye was half open, allowing Mike to see the foggy, glassy stare of death.

Mike held back his vomit. He didn’t need to check on his mother. He knew he would find her in the same state.

_Holly_.

Mike rushed out of his parents room and down the hall to Holly’s room. He opened the door and immediately shut it. She was gone too.

Mike then rushed over to Nancy’s room, but found it empty. His breath caught his throat, and he rushed to the bathroom, making it to the toilet just in time for the vomit to pour out of him.

When he was finished, he flushed the toilet and made his way downstairs and grabbed the phone, dialing 9-1-1.

***

Hopper stood over the cabin’s old wood stove, attempting to cook Eggos over the fire. Later today he planned on getting the electricity back on, but until then here he was, a 45 year old man sitting in front of a stove, a frozen waffle stuck on the end of a fork, all to please a sixteen-year-old girl he had know for less than 48 hours and was already starting to feel like a daughter to him.

If anyone at the station saw him now, he would never live it down.

After burning yet another waffle, Hopper gave up, tossing the waffle into the fire to finish the job.

“I’m sorry El. You're going to have to settle for cereal this morning. Once I get the power back on and get a toaster in this place, you’ll get your waffles.” Hopper said.

El looked disappointed, but didn’t say anything.

Hopper placed a bowl of cereal in front of El along with a spoon. El took one look at the spoon and dug her hand into her cereal. Hopper quickly pulled her hand out of the bowl.

“Jesus, kid. What are you doing?”

“Eating?” El said.

“Kid, you’re supposed to use the spoon.” Hopper said.

“Spoon?” El asked.

Hopper was about to tell her how to use a spoon, but decided to show her instead.

“Here kid.” He said, taking El’s hand and placing the spoon in it.

He helped her shovel a couple spoonfuls of cereal into her mouth. She quickly got the hang of it and was eating on her own. When she was finished, she looked at her spoon and smile.

“Spoon.” She said, in an almost whimsical tone of voice.

Hopper couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay kid. I gotta show up at work today, at least for a little while, but I’ll be back at 1:30.” Hopper said.

“When is that?”

Hopper took his finger and drew a “1” on the table and then a “3” and a “0”.

“When the clock says that. Got it?” Hopper said.

“One, three, zero. Got it.” El said.

“And tomorrow I’ll be brining you a surprise.” Hopper said.

“Mike!?” El asked excitedly.

Hopper shook his head. _That kid is going to be a problem_, Hopper thought to himself.

“No, not Mike. Something else. You’ll have to wait and see.”

El pouted, but then smiled up at Hopper. Hopper smiled back and head to his room, where he got dressed for work. He headed out the door, giving El one last wave before he left.

Hopper got in his truck and turned on his radio.

“Chief Hopper, on the air.” He said, announcing that he was available.

“Hopper, you need to get down to the Wheeler house now.” Officer Powell said.

“The Wheeler house?” Hopper asked.

“Yeah. Looks like a triple homicide. It’s a mess.” Powell said.

“Jesus Christ. Okay, I’m on my way.” Hopper said.

_If the Wheeler kid is hurt…_

Hopper flipped on his lights and siren and headed straight for the Wheeler house.

***

When he arrived, he found the house already taped off with police tape. A small crowd had gathered outside of the house, which had multiple ambulances, a fire truck, the entirety of the Hawkins PD, and a few State Police cars parked in front of or near it.

“Jesus.” Hopper said to himself as he got out of the car.

He headed for the front door when a weak voice called out to him.

“Chief.”

Hopper turned and saw Mike sitting in the back of an ambulance, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Hopper approached the ambulance.

“Hey, kid.” Hopper said.

Mike threw the blanket off of himself and hopped down off of the ambulance and ran to Hopper, hugging him and crying.

“They’re gone. They’re fucking gone and it’s all my fault.”


	11. Chapter 11

Nancy woke up late that morning. Later than usual, at least. She sat up in bed, Steve’s bed, and stretched. Steve had been nice enough to offer her his bed while he slept on the couch. Nancy felt guilty, but was glad to have a bed to sleep in after the rough day she had the day before.

After taking a shower and dressing herself, she headed for the living room and sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

What she saw before her would be burned into her memory forever.

Her house was plastered all over the local news, with the headline “Three found dead in suspected triple homicide” at the bottom of the screen.

Her stomach lurched and she quickly ran to the bathroom and threw up. When she was finished, she remained on the bathroom floor, crying so hard she was having trouble breathing.

***

Jonathan was at the cafeteria, grabbing himself some breakfast when he saw the news. He quickly lost his appetite, his heartbreaking, not just for Will, but also for Nancy, who he thought was still away at school in New York.

He wondered what was happening to his previously quiet town. First there was Will be hit by a car, then the shooting at Benny’s and now this. His mind was spinning with all the thoughts and worries he had.

He left his breakfast at the table and headed back to Will’s room.

Joyce was seated at Will’s bedside, a smile plastered on her face, waiting for the doctor finish Will’s discharge paperwork when Jonathan poked his head in the room.

“Mom? Can I talk to you for a second? Outside?” Jonathan asked.

A worried look crossed Joyce’s face when she saw the look on Jonathan’s face. She nodded her head and followed him out of the room.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“I just saw on the news. There was a m…” Jonathan leaned in close, whispering so Will wouldn’t hear. “A triple murder at the Wheeler house.”

“Jesus!” Joyce exclaimed. “Is Mike…”

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know. They didn’t say.” Jonathan said.

The two stood in silence for a moment, staring at each other, silently coming to agreement that they shouldn’t tell Will until they knew what had happened to Mike.

The two took a moment to compose themselves before re-entering Will’s room.

“What’s wrong?” Will asked, immediately noticing that something was off with the two.

“Nothing, dear.” Joyce said, putting on a fake smile for her son’s sake.

***

Dustin knocked and hurriedly rung the doorbell at Lucas’ house and was quickly greeted by a frantic looking Lucas.

“I know. I just heard.” Lucas said.

“We need to find out if Mike’s okay. They said triple murder, and four people live at his house so maybe he’s okay…” Dustin said.

But Lucas had already grabbed his bike and soon the two were off, headed for Mike’s house.

When they arrived, the found the scene in complete chaos; crime scene techs were coming and going from the house and there were police and media everywhere.

“Shit. There’s no way we’re going to find out anything here.” Lucas said.

But Dustin spotted a friendly face amongst the chaos: Steve, who was manning one of the roadblocks.

Dustin and Lucas approached him. Before they could say anything, Steve spoke as if he could read their minds.

“Mike’s alive. He’s at the station with the Chief.” Steve said.

Dustin and Lucas gave him their thanks and headed off in the direction of the police station.

Steve stood stoically at the road block, doing his best to make sure his face didn’t betray his feelings. His heart was broken for both Nancy and Mike. Although things between he and Nancy hadn’t worked out, he still had feelings for her and regarded her as a good friend and couldn’t imagine what she was going through at the moment.

He wished he could’ve been there to tell her, but when he left for work, being called in by Flo who only told him to show up at the station for a quick briefing, before he and Callahan headed for the scene, and by the time he arrived at the scene, it was too late for him to sneak home. He had a job to do.

***

Mike was seated in Hopper’s office, staring off into space, doing his best to try and get the horrific images he had seen that morning out of his head, and failing. He had no idea what he was going to do, or what was going to happen to him.

All he knew, or rather, thought he knew, was that this was all his fault. If he had locked the door before leaving, if he hadn’t found that damn girl…

Mike shook his head and cursed his brain for daring to think like that. It wasn’t El’s fault. She was just as much a victim in this as Mike. He had saved her, and maybe now it would be El’s turn to save him.

Hopper was seated across from Mike, on the phone with some State Police higher up and arguing with him.

“Well thanks for nothing.” Hopper said, hanging the phone up with a bang, making Mike jump.

“Sorry, kid.” Hopper said. “The State’s going to be taking the lead on this one. They think it’s too far above my pay-grade, and to be honest, they might be right.”

“You know this has to do with the lab.” Mike said.

“We don’t know that for sure.” Hopper said, doubting his own words as they left his mouth.

“Yes, we do! You saw them! They were executed and they were coming for me and El! You know it!” Mike said, standing up from his seat.

He was angry at Hopper for not seeing what was clearly in front of him, but Hopper did see it clearly, and to be honest it terrified him.

Whoever had murdered the Wheeler family were very skilled at what they do and they were coming for El next. He started to wonder if the shootout at Benny’s and the death of the perpetrator was somehow connected to this case.

He made a mental note to look through the Marsden case file later.

“Yes. Fine. They are coming for you and El, and if they find you, both of you are dead. I know it, but I’m not going to let that happen, Wheeler.” Hopper said.

Mike took a seat, both shocked and happy that Hopper was listening to him.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Mike asked.

Hopper thought for a moment, unsure what to do. Finally he came to the realization that there was only one real solution to this problem.

“You’re going to come live with me. It’ll be easier to keep both you and El safe. If you’re both in the same place and close to me.” Hopper said.

Mike breathed a sigh of relief. Not only did he have a safe place to sleep tonight, but he would be able to see the one person he needed to see the most.

A sudden realization came to Hopper’s mind.

“Hey kid, where were you last night?” Hopper asked.

Mike went white as a ghost.

“I…uh…I snuck out…” Mike said.

“Snuck out where?” Hopper asked. “Don’t worry, kid, I’m not accusing you of anything.”

“I…snuck out to your cabin to see El.” Mike said.

Hopper’s eyes went wide and he sat back further in his seat.

“You did what?” Hopper said.

“I…uh…spent the night…but nothing happened! I swear! You can ask her!” Mike said.

Hopper took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he was already thinking of El as his daughter. He had already decided that morning that she was going to stay with him permanently and he was going to treat her as his daughter, and for a brief moment a flash of anger shot through Hopper when Mike mentioned that he had spent the night, alone, in bed with his daughter.

But then he remembered that because of it, Mike was alive. If Mike was killed…

Hopper took a deep breath.

“It’s okay, kid. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be with us. With El.” Hopper said.

Mike nodded his head mournfully.

“Mike! Mike!” Nancy called out as she burst into the police station.

Mike got up from his seat and ran to her, hugging her tighter than he ever had before.

***

That afternoon the Byers, all of the Byers, returned home for the first time since Will’s accident. Joyce and Jonathan helped Will to his room. Once Will was settled, Joyce went to the kitchen and grabbed the phone and called the station, asking for Hopper.

“Yes, Joyce?” Hopper said on the other end of the line.

“I’m calling about the Wheelers. I can’t believe…”

“I know, Joyce, I know. But you can tell Will that Mike’s okay. Nancy too. She was staying at Steve’s when it happened. Neither of them were there when it happened.

“Oh thank God.” Joyce said. “What’s going to happen to Mike? He can come and stay with us…”

“No, don’t worry about him. I’ll be taking care of him.” Hopper said.

Joyce looked shocked.

“Are you sure, Hop? You have a lot on your plate as it is.” Joyce said.

“I’m sure. He needs someone to protect him, and I can do that.” Hopper said.

A moment of silence passed between them.

“So Nancy’s home?” Joyce asked.

“Yeah. Don’t know the full details, but it seems like she dropped out of college.” Hopper said.

“Oh my.” Joyce said.

In the kitchen Jonathan was leaning on the counter top. He perked up when he heard that Nancy was home.

He had had a crush on Nancy for as long as he could remember, and one of his deepest regrets was never asking her out. He knew they went in different circles, but he still felt like he should’ve given it a shot.

Jonathan tuned out Joyce’s voice as he thought about Nancy and what she and Mike had been through. He wanted to help them both, but he had no idea how to. He couldn’t even help his own brother.

Feeling frustrated and angry with himself, he headed for the front door and left.

***

Dustin and Lucas arrived at the station and stashed their bikes near the front door.

“Man, at least one of us really needs to get a driver’s license.” Dustin said, out of breath as the two entered the station.

“Mike!” Dustin and Lucas both called out, seeing him talking with Nancy.

They rushed over to him and crushed him in a deep hug, happy that their friend was alive.

“What the hell happened?” Dustin said.

Lucas punched on the shoulder.

“What? Don’t lie, both of us want to know.” Dustin said.

“The lab. I know it’s the lab. They came after El and…” Mike said before breaking down into tears and being gathered up into another hug with his friends.

“Wheeler. It’s time to go.” Hopper said.

Mike separated from his friends and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

“What does he mean?” Lucas asked.

“I’m gonna be staying with him for awhile. Don’t tell anyone. He’s trying to keep me safe.” Mike said.

Dustin and Lucas nodded, understanding as Mike gave them final wave as he left the station with Hopper.

***

Max Mayfield laid quietly on her bed, reading through the assigned reading for the night. She had a lot on her mind, and wasn’t really paying attention to what she was reading.

She had heard about the Wheeler killings and knew that the Wheeler kid was friends with her Stalker.

She knew he wasn’t actually stalking her. It was more of a term of endearment. To be honest, she thought she had a crush on Lucas. No, she _knew _she had a crush on him. A big one, and it scared her.

Back in California she was a loner, keeping to herself and never really making friends that lasted beyond a week, but maybe now she had a chance to make friends and maybe something more.

Max shook the thought out of her head. Maybe she was just being stupid, like her “brother” Billy likes to remind her of so often.

Her and Billy were never friends and ever since they arrived in Hawkins, they hadn’t spoken much at all. Billy had even laid off his insults and threats after the _incident_.

Max shuddered when she thought of it. He had threatened her and told her to tell no one, and she obeyed. She desperately wanted to tell someone, to get the guilt off of her shoulders, but she was scared of Billy and didn’t know what to do. 

***

Hopper guided Mike up the trail, knowing that he didn’t really need to. If the kid could traverse it in the middle of the night, he could handle it himself, which bothered him. If a kid could do it, so could an assassin. Hopper made a mental to booby trap the trail.

Hopper knocked on the door and a moment later El opened, smiling when she saw Mike, but quickly loosing it when she saw the look on his face. El grabbed his hand and guided him into the house and back to her room, with no objections from Hopper.

They sat down on El’s makeshift bed, and Mike let loose his tears as El held him.

Mike told her the whole story of what happened and his theory as to who the killer was hired by. El started crying too, feeling guilty, thinking that she was the cause of all of this. If she had never stayed with Mike, none of this would’ve ever happened.

They held each other for hours, until the both fell asleep.

***

Steve took what had become his usual seat at the Greasy Spoon. He had a lot on his mind tonight and he had to see her. To see Robin. He couldn’t get her out of his mind.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite regular.” Robin said as she appeared at Steve’s booth.

Steve looked up at her and smiled.

“Am I really your favorite regular?” Steve asked.

Robin thought for a moment before shaking her head.

“No. That’ll be the eighty year old guy that grabs my ass.” Robin said.

Steve looked confused.

“You like that he grabs your ass?” Steve asked.

Robin laughed.

“No, but he leaves great tips.” Robin said.

The two shared a laugh before both went silent, looking at each other.

“I saw you on the news a few days ago. The shooting.” Robin said.

Steve nodded his head and averted his eyes from hers.

“Glad you’re okay.” Robin said, writing down his usual order without him having to repeat it. “Don’t know what I would do without my favorite.”

Robin winked at him as she walked away, eliciting a big smile from Steve.

While Steve waited for his order, he noticed Jonathan step into the diner. He whistled at Jonathan to get his attention.

“Hey! Byers! Take a seat.” Steve said, motioning to the seat across from him.

Jonathan nodded and took a seat.

“Hey Steve.” Jonathan said.

“You hear about…” Steve started.

“Yeah. It’s terrible.” Jonathan said.

Steve nodded in agreement. The two sat in silence for a few moments before Steve spoke up.

“You know Nancy’s in town, right?” Steve asked.

Jonathan nodded.

“Yeah. I heard my mom talking to the Chief.” Jonathan said.

“She stayed at my place last night. Got kicked out for dropping out of school.” Steve said.

Jonathan wasn’t sure which fact bothered him most: the fact that she got kicked out of her own home, dropped out of school, or stayed at Steve’s.

“I slept on the couch, if you were wondering.” Steve said.

“I wasn’t.”

“It’s just, I know you like her and I want you to know it's donezo between us. Permanently. We’re just friends now.” Steve said.

Jonathan didn’t respond, but internally sighed with relief. He wanted desperately to talk with Nancy, but he wasn’t sure when the right time would be. He felt like if he talked to her now, he would be taking advantage of her and her current mental state, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“She needs someone to talk to.” Steve said. “Someone besides me, that is. I’m not really…I’m probably not the most helpful person to talk to right now. I’m dealing with stuff of my own.”

_You’re being pretty fucking helpful right now_, Jonathan thought to himself, but he knew what Steve was referring to. Everyone knew he had been shot just a few days before and Jonathan imagined that must’ve been at the forefront of his mind ever since.

Jonathan took a deep breath before speaking.

“You know, I’m not so hungry after all. I’ll see you later, Steve.” Jonathan said, getting up from his seat.

Steve waved as Jonathan left, leaving Steve to stew in his own thoughts.

***

Joyce stepped into Will’s room to find him reading one of his many comic books. He put it down when he saw his mom enter.

“Hi mom.” Will said.

Joyce smiled weakly at her son and sat down on the edge of his bed.

“We have to talk about something, honey.” Joyce said, before relaying the news about the Wheelers to Will.

***

Spears was sitting in his motel room, watching the news that he had created earlier that morning. But he wasn’t happy. Quite the opposite. He had failed in his mission. The Frog Kid and the Subject weren’t there.

He still had a job to do.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled photo that he had recovered from one of the bedrooms of the Wheeler house. It was a photo of Mike and Nancy together.

He still had a job to do, and now he had a third target to take care of.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! So I’m thinking of starting a one-shot collection, mostly Stranger Things stuff, but you can send in prompts for other fandoms too! I’d appreciate if you guys could send me prompts through comments here and then I’ll start up a new one-shot collection! 
> 
> I’m also working on a new story, which is why you might’ve noticed that updates have slowed down a bit on this story, but don’t worry! A lot more is coming!

The next morning, Mike and El woke up, still entangled in each other’s arms.

“Good morning.” Mike said, smiling at her.

“Good morning.” El said.

They shared a quick, tender kiss before both deciding that they should probably get out of bed before Hopper gets angry. They could already hear his heavy boots pacing around in the cabin.

The two exited El’s room and found Hopper preparing breakfast.

“Hope you like frozen waffles, Wheeler, ‘cause that’s all we got.” Hopper said, dropping a plate onto the table, glaring at Mike.

_Got to establish that I’m the boss around here, _Hopper thought to himself.

Mike and El sat down at the table.

“That whole thing from last night? Sleeping together? That was a one time thing, got it you two?” Hopper said sternly.

El looked up at Hopper sadly.

“But…”

“No buts. Mike is getting his own room and his own bed.” Hopper said.

El angrily turned to her breakfast, grabbing a waffle and taking a bite, before immediately spitting it out onto her plate.

“What the hell is that about?” Hopper asked.

El looked up at him.

“These aren’t Eggos.” El said.

“Kid, they’re frozen waffles. They’re all the same.” Hopper said.

“No, they’re not.” El said.

She picked up what remained of her waffle and tossed it at Hopper, striking him in the chest. She quickly got up from her chair and ran to her room.

“El go to your room!” Hopper had shouted, before realizing she had already left.

Mike sat quietly at the table, slowly eating his breakfast, hoping to not get Hopper’s attention.

He failed.

“Did you understand what I said?” Hopper asked.

Mike nodded his head.

“Yes sir. No problem.” Mike said.

“Good.” Hopper said. “I was thinking, I need to secure this place. I’m going to setup some booby traps outside. I’m going to need your help later.”

“I’m not going to school?” Mike said.

“Kid, your family…you need some time to yourself, I think.” Hopper said.

Mike nodded, looking down at his feet. Every time he thought about his family, his heart raced and he could feel his legs go weak. Hopper looked at the boy and felt horrible for him. His entire life was upended overnight, and now he had to try and get his life under control while living with a man who felt as if he didn’t even have his own life under control.

The two sat in silence for a moment before Hopper stood up from his seat.

“Well, I better get going.” Hopper said.

***

Lucas was alone at school. Dustin was apparently sick, and Lucas was upset. He always hated being the only member of the Party at school, no matter how rare that actually was.

Lucas exited the lunch line with his lunch and looked to the Party’s usual table hoping to see Dustin or Mike or even Will, but neither of them were there.

Instead, Lucas spotted Max seated at the table. He swallowed hard and headed for the table, sitting across from her. Max looked up from her lunch.

“Well hello, Stalker.” She said, giving Lucas a brief smile.

Lucas smiled back, surprised that she was apparently being nice to him.

“I heard about your friend’s family. I’m sorry.” Max said.

Lucas nodded his head.

“Yeah. It’s terrible. I feel awful for Mike.” Lucas said.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Max spoke up.

“What are you doing after school?” Max asked.

Lucas’ mouth dropped open, and he just stared at her for a moment, not saying a word.

“Hello? Earth to Stalker!” Max said, snapping her fingers in front of Lucas’ face.

Lucas shook himself out of his stupor.

“Uh…nothing really. I was going to go check in on Dustin. I think he’s sick or something.” Lucas said.

“Sounds like you have an exciting afternoon planned.” Max said jokingly. “Mind if I tag along?”

Lucas swallowed hard.

“Uh, yeah sure. No problem.” Lucas said.

“Great.” Max said.

She grabbed her half eaten lunch, got up from her seat and headed for the trash, where she dumped her lunch and exited the lunch room.

_I can’t believe I just did that, _Max thought to herself as she walked down the hallway toward her locker, smiling the whole way there.

***

Officer Callahan was seated across from Indiana State Police Detective Atwood in the interrogation room at the Hawkins Police Station. He was uncomfortable. This was the first time he was on the other side of the table, and it made him uneasy.

Atwood reached across the table to a tape recorder and pressed the “record" button.

“This is Detective Atwood, Indiana State Police, Badge number 2-2-4-8. I am about to interview Officer Phil Callahan, Hawkins, Indiana Police Department, Badge number 2-5-7. Good morning, Officer Callahan.” Atwood said.

“Good morning.” Callahan said.

“Just for the record, you agreed to speak with me without an attorney present, is that correct?”

Callahan nodded his head.

“Correct.” Callahan said.

“How long have you been an officer with the Hawkins PD?”

“Uh, about six years now.” He said.

“And Jim Hopper has been the Chief for the entirety of your tenure here?”

“Yes sir.” Callahan said.

“How would you describe his ability to do his job?” Atwood asked.

Callahan furrowed his brow.

“I…I’m sorry. I thought this was about the Wheeler murders…”

“Officer Callahan, I’m the leader of the Hawkins Task Force. We’re handling both the Wheeler murders and the murder of Alex Marsden.” Atwood said.

“Oh. But why are you asking…you don’t think Hopper was involved in either…”

“I’m not accusing anyone of anything. I’m just trying to get the facts.” Atwood said. “Let’s skip that question for now. Jim Hopper was the one who shot Mr. Marsden, correct?”

Callahan nodded his head.

“Yes.”

“Do you know if he’s ever shot anyone before?” Atwood asked.

“I…I don’t know.” Callahan said.

“Has he ever been accused of excessive force?”

“There were a couple of…listen, this doesn’t feel right. The Chief’s a good cop and…”

Atwood put his hand up, stopping Callahan.

“I understand.” Atwood said, dismissing Callahan’s statement. “Has he ever shown up to work drunk or under the influence of drugs?”

Callahan got up from his seat.

“Okay, this interview is over.” Callahan said, heading for the door.

Atwood sighed and leaned in to the recorder.

“End of interview.” He said as he pushed the “stop” button.

***

After school, Max waited for Lucas at the bike rack where she had seen the Party before. She stood there for a few minutes, tapping her foot in annoyance. Finally, Lucas appeared from the front door of the school and ran over to the bike rack.

“Finally. Took you long enough.” Max said.

“Sorry. I had to pick up work for Mike, Dustin and Will today.” Lucas said.

Max furrowed her brow.

“I know who Mike and Dustin are, but who’s Will?” She asked.

“Oh! He’s the other member of the Party…er…my other friend. He got hit by a car and broke his leg. He’s recovering at home.” Lucas said.

Max’s eyes went wide at the mention of Will being hit by a car. She felt her knees turn to jelly and for a moment was worried she was going to hit the pavement.

“Oh. That…sucks. I’m sorry.” Max said nervously.

“Yeah, but he’s getting better.” Lucas said as he undid the lock securing his bike to the bike rack.

Max took a deep breath, trying to put the thought of Will to the back of her mind.

“I took the bus to school today. Mind if I ride with you?” Max asked.

A nervous Lucas nodded his head and got on his bike, Max getting on the back and putting her hands on his shoulders.

“Okay. Ready.” She said.

Lucas rode off from school in the direction of Dustin’s house. After a short ride, they arrived, and Lucas got off the bike, his hands slightly shaking and his shoulders still burning with Max’s touch.

Max followed Lucas up to the front door. Lucas rang the doorbell and a moment later Dustin’s mom Claudia answered.

“Oh hi Lucas!” Claudia turned to Max, whom she had never met before. “And girl.”

“Max.” Max said, introducing herself.

Claudia nodded her head. Suddenly, Dustin appeared at the doorway next to his mom.

“Don’t worry mom.” Dustin said, pretending to cough in between sentences. “I’m well enough to see them.”

Claudia nodded her head and left the doorway, leaving the three alone. Dustin, despite being shocked at seeing Max and Lucas together, guided the two back to his room where he shut the door.

“Well, I didn’t expect an extra visitor. I was hoping to have a top secret meeting.” Dustin said.

Max rolled her eyes.

“Really? ‘A top secret meeting’? What are you, thirteen?” Max asked.

Dustin stuck his tongue out at Max.

“Yup. Guess you are.” She said, fighting back a smile.

She was really starting to like these boys.

“Come on, just pretend I’m a member of your Party or whatever.” Max said.

Dustin’s mouth dropped open and Lucas’ eyes went wide. Dustin turned to Lucas.

“A girl? Joining the Party? That’s…that’s…”

“Groundbreaking.” Lucas said.

“Oh my God you guys are such nerds.” Max said, taking a seat at Dustin’s desk.

Dustin thought for a moment.

“Well, there’s El. I guess she’s a member of the Party, so maybe Max is actually the second girl in the Party.” Dustin said.

Lucas nodded his head.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen any of you with a girl. Who the hell are you talking about?” Max asked, intrigued.

“She’s the topic of today’s top secret meeting.” Dustin said.

Lucas spoke up quickly, concerned Dustin would say something he shouldn’t.

“Are you sure we should tell her? I mean, we should probably ask Mike first.” Lucas said.

Max smacked Lucas on the arm.

“Hey! I’m trust worthy!” Max said.

Lucas turned to her, worried he had offended her.

“I…I didn’t mean that. I just mean…it’s a really, really complicated situation.” Lucas said.

“Like, life threateningly complicated.” Dustin said. “Literally.”

Max rolled her eyes.

“Just get on with it.” Max said.

Dustin looked to Lucas, who shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess it’s okay.” Lucas said.

Dustin then turned to Max and relayed the whole story about El and the Lab. After Dustin finished the story, Max stared at him in silence for a moment.

“Bullshit.” Max said. “Total bullshit.”

Both Dustin and Lucas shook their heads, taking on a mournful tone of voice, Lucas spoke up.

“No. It’s all true. That’s why…that’s why Mike’s family…” Lucas said.

Max’s eyes went wide.

“Are you seriously trying to tell me that Mike’s family was _murdered_ because of this girl?” Max asked.

Both Dustin and Lucas nodded their heads. Both of them had deadly serious looks on their faces.

“You guys are actually serious about this, aren’t you?” Max said.

“Deadly.” Lucas said.

Max’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. She started to wonder what she had just gotten herself into.

“Well.” Dustin said. ”I think we can officially consider you a member of the Party now.”

***

After Hopper left the cabin, Mike and El were alone. They spent most of the day in El’s room, just being close to each other, often times not even saying a word. They just sat on El’s “bed”, their backs agains the wall.

Finally, El spoke up, ending the long silence that had surrounded them.

“I’m glad you are okay.” El said, shifting her head on Mike’s shoulder.

“Me too.” Mike said. “I mean, I’m glad you’re okay too. If we had been there…”

Mike shuddered at the thought and a tear came to El’s eye.

“I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault.” El said, now beginning to cry.

Mike turned toward El a bit, wrapping his arm tightly around her shoulder and pulling her onto his lap. She rested her head on his chest and cried. Mike rested the side of his head on the top of El’s head.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, El. None of this is your fault. It’s all those people at the Lab. They’re the one’s to blame for ALL of this.” Mike said, anger rising in his voice.

El sniffled and nodded against Mike’s chest, still feeling guilty. Another moment of silence passed between the two.

“At least we get to be together.” Mike said.

El smiled against his chest and nodded again.

Suddenly, a series of knocks came at the front door.

“Great.” Mike said, unraveling himself from El and heading for the door.

He opened it, revealing Hopper with a box of supplies.

“Ready to work?” Hopper asked.

Hopper and Mike spent the next few hours setting up booby traps all around the parameter of the cabin.

“So if someone trips the wire, it’ll fire the round, letting us know someone is coming.” Hopper said.

“And then what?” Mike asked.

“We deal with them.” Hopper said.

“How?” Mike asked.

“Protect her at any cost..”

***

Nancy was walking aimlessly through the streets of the center of Hawkins, not sure what to do with herself. She knew it was probably dangerous for her to be out walking by herself with the murderer of her family still out there, but she couldn’t just keep herself cooped up at Steve’s apartment.

As she walked the streets, she replayed the last conversation she had with her parents over and over again in her mind. She wished she could take back everything she said. She wished she could tell them how much she loved them. She wished she could have one last conversation with Holly, her Lady Bug. One last hug. But most of all she wished none of this bullshit had ever happened.

She wished that whatever was causing this, be it God, or the Devil or whatever being out there that caused all these horrible things to happen would just undo it all and give them all a second chance.

As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she stopped in front of an old antiques store and decided to walk in, to give herself something to distract herself from her misery.

The store was small, but filled to the brim with all kinds of old things. She browsed up and down the aisles for hours, her eyes going from old lamps, to old pieces of furniture, to old paintings, all of which painted by people long forgotten.

Finally, she came upon the aisle that held all kinds of old photography equipment, and found Jonathan browsing the aisle.

She had always liked Jonathan, even though their interactions were very limited, usually only limited to passing glances in the hall at school or a few words shared when picking up or dropping off their brothers.

To be honest, she was glad to see him. She felt as if Jonathan might have a small window into what she was feeling, having almost lost his brother. She hoped that maybe talking with him would make her feel even just a tiny bit better.

“Hi, Jonathan.” Nancy said, stopping at the entrance to the aisle.

Jonathan looked up from the old camera he was examining in his hands and looked to Nancy and smiled.

He was shocked to see her here. This was his spot, a place he came to all the time, not just to browse and buy things, but also to just think. The owner of the shop, Mr. Gordon, was a friend of his and he felt like he could talk to him about anything.

“Uh, hi, Nancy.” Jonathan said. “I’m sorry about…”

Jonathan stopped himself. Nancy had probably heard enough people tell her they were “sorry” to last a lifetime. Nancy nodded her head, almost as if she read his mind.

“Thanks. I’m sorry about your brother. I’m glad he’s okay.” Nancy said.

“Thanks.”

Nancy slowly stepped toward Jonathan, looking at the camera he was holding.

“What’d you have there?” She asked.

Jonathan looked to the camera.

“Oh, just an old camera from the forties.” Jonathan said.

Nancy chuckled. She knew how much Jonathan liked photography from how how often she saw him taking pictures around school. She’d even caught him taking some of her at school when he thought she wasn’t looking.

She thought that she should probably think that that was a bit creepy, but she found cute and endearing.

“Come on, Jonathan. We both know you can do better than that.” She said.

Jonathan smiled.

“Okay. It’s a 1946 Kodak 35 Rangefinder.” Jonathan said.

Nancy smiled.

“That’s better.” Nancy said.

Jonathan smiled back, fiddling with the camera in his hands. They stood in silence for a moment.

“So. You gonna get it?” Nancy asked.

Jonathan shook his head.

“No. I already have something similar. It’s just cool to look at, I guess.” He said, putting the camera back on its shelf.

Nancy took another step closer to Jonathan.

“So, uh, come here often?” She asked.

“Yeah. It’s my favorite place in town, other then home of course.” Jonathan said.

Jonathan and Nancy walked together, looking at the goods on the shelves.

“I can’t believe I’ve never been in here before.” Nancy said, looking around.

“It’s a small shop. It’s easy to miss.” Jonathan said.

After a moment of silence, Jonathan spoke up.

“So. I hear you’re living with Steve.” He said.

Nancy rolled her eyes.

“Yeah. It’s strictly a platonic, helping out a friend kind of thing. Bet he told you didn’t he?” Nancy said.

“Yeah. He told me the same thing.” Jonathan said.

Jonathan thought for a moment, wondering if he should say anything.

“He, uh, actually said I should talk to you.” He said.

Nancy looked surprised.

“Did he really?” She asked.

“Yeah. Said you might need someone to talk to. I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t…

“No! No. That’d be great, actually.” Nancy said, eliciting a smile from Jonathan. 

***

Steve entered the Greasy Spoon, only to literally run into Robin, who turned back toward the front counter.

“Fuck you too!” She shouted.

Robin turned back to Steve and motioned for her to follow him out of the diner. The two started walking down the sidewalk.

“What the hell just happened back there?” Steve asked.

“I got fired.”

“For?”

“Remember that old guy I told you about?”

Steve nodded his head.

“Well I finally got sick of him grabbing my ass and dumped his dinner on his lap.” She said.

Steve chuckled. Robin stopped and turned to him.

“It’s not funny. I needed that job.” Robin said.

“I’m sure you’ll find another.”

“In this dump of a town? I doubt it.” She said.

“Hey, this place isn’t that bad…well…I mean it wasn’t before all the murders and stuff.” Steve said.

“My point exactly. This town is going to the shitter quick.” She said.

“Well it’s a good thing this town has Officer Harrington here to protect it.” Steve said.

Robin smiled and laughed. Steve feigned offense.

“What? I took a bullet for this town.” Steve said.

“And the town, I’m sure, is forever grateful.” Robin said.

After a moment, Steve spoke up.

“You know, if you need a place to stay…” He said.

Robin laughed.

“Steve, I’m out of a job, not homeless. Yet.” Robin said. “But thanks for the offer. I’ll keep it in mind.”

Robin gave Steve a wink.

***

Nancy and Jonathan spent the rest of the afternoon together, walking through the different shops in Hawkins before Nancy decided she should head “home”. Jonathan offered to drive her, but Nancy wanted to walk.

What Nancy didn’t know when she was walking home, was that someone was watching her every move.

Spears was walking behind her, at a far enough distance that she wouldn’t hear his steps and made sure that he would have enough time to disappear from sight if she turned around.

Spears followed her all the way back to Steve’s house. He wrote down the address on a notepad. He would be back tomorrow to stakeout the house, to see if the Frog and the Subject were there.

_For now, the girl gets to live. But once I find those little shits, she’s done for._ He thought to himself.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve noticed that the past few chapters have been kinda light on the Mileven fluff, but don’t worry. More is coming! Also, sorry for the short chapter. I’ve been having a rough couple of days.

Mike wasn’t sure how he was going to get through the day.

Today was the funeral of his parents and Holly. It was going to be the hardest, well, maybe the second hardest day of his life.

He stood in his room, trying to tie a tie when a knock came at his door.

“Come in!” He said.

Hopper entered.

“You ready?”

Mike shook his head.

“I can’t get this damn tie on right.” Mike said.

Hopper grunted in response and approached Mike, fixing his tie.

“I hate these things.” Hopper said.

“I guess we have that in common.” Mike said, smiling at Hopper.

“There.” Hopper said, finishing the tie.

“Now, are you ready to go?” Hopper asked.

Mike thought for a moment.

“No. But I don’t have a choice, do I?” Mike said.

***

The funeral service was hard for everyone, but especially Mike. He still felt guilty that he played some part in their deaths.

After the service, there was a small reception, which Mike hated, because everyone kept coming up to him and telling him how “sorry” they were. He got the point after the third time.

He decided to find a quiet corner to himself. El wasn’t at the funeral. Hopper wouldn’t allow it. He couldn’t risk someone seeing her out in the open.

Dustin, Lucas and Will noticed Mike standing alone in a corner and decided to go talk to him.

“Hey, man.” Dustin said.

“Hey guys.” Mike said. He turned to Will. “How are you doing?”

“Better. Getting a hang of these crutches.” Will said. “Mom said I can go back to school on Monday.

“That’s great!” Mike said.

Will nodded in agreement. Dustin and Lucas looked at each other. Dustin shook his head at him. Lucas turned to Mike.

“Hey, I know this is probably a really bad time to talk about this, but we thought we should tell you as soon as possible.” Lucas said.

A worried look crossed Mike’s face.

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Mike said.

“We, uh, told Max. About El.” Lucas said.

Mike’s mouth dropped open and his heart rate quickened.

“You what? You told her what?” Mike demanded.

“Everything. We told her everything.” Dustin said. “I’m so sorry. But we can trust her.”

“How do you know that?” Mike asked. “You guys barely know her. How long have you two even talked to each other, Lucas? Have you even hung out outside of school before?”

“Only once but…”

“You’ve only hung out with her once, and suddenly she’s trust worthy? What the hell, guys? What’s wrong with you?” Mike asked.

He could feel the anger building up inside of him, begging to come out.

“I don’t know why, but I trust her.” Lucas said.

“I know why you trust her. You trust her ‘cause you want to fuck her.” Mike said. “Stop thinking with your dick and start thinking with your head! This is serious!”

“What the fuck, Mike?” Lucas said, deeply hurt and offended at his harsh words.

Mike put his hand up and shook his head, averting his gaze from Dustin and Lucas.

“I…I can’t talk to you two right now.” Mike said.

Dustin and Lucas took that as a cue to leave. Will stayed behind. Mike sighed.

“I’m sorry you had to see that, Will. I know you didn’t have anything to do with it.” Mike said.

“It’s okay Mike. If it means anything, I trust Lucas’ judgment, and if he says she’s trust worthy, then I trust her.” Will said, smiling at Mike.

Mike gave him a slight smile. He trusted Will with his life, but he wasn’t quite ready to accept what Lucas and Dustin had said.

“Now Dustin on the other hand…” Will said, jokingly.

The two shared a laughed.

The reception continued on for a few hours before people started to leave. Outside, parked in his car, sat Spears, watching, waiting. He had seen the Frog Kid enter the house with the man he knew to be the Chief of Police.

Finally, he saw the Chief and The Frog Kid exit the house and get into the Chief’s truck. The truck drove off. Spears waited a minute before starting up his car and following after him.

Mike noticed Hopper tense up in the truck.

“What’s wrong, Chief?” Mike asked.

“I’m not sure yet, but I think we’re being followed.


	14. Chapter 14

Hopper gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles went white. Mike’s breathing increased and he attempted to glance back at the car behind them, only to be stopped by Hopper.

“Don’t! Don’t let ‘em know we know he’s following us.” Hopper said.

Mike turned his head back straight ahead, not daring to move in inch.

“We’ll be okay, kid. Just do everything I say.” Hopper said.

Hopper continued down his normal path toward the cabin.

“What are you doing?” Mike asked, concerned. “Your leading him right to the cabin.”

“Exactly! I have a plan.” Hopper said.

“A pretty bad one!” Mike said.

“Shut up.” Hopper said. “I’m serious.”

Finally, Hopper came upon the street that leads to his cabin. He turned down it, passing the “Private Way” sign. Spears passed by them, continuing down the other road, but making a mental note of the address.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Mike said as Hopper parked the truck near the cabin.

“Watch your…oh fuck it. I don’t care.” Hopper said, turning to Mike. “Listen, kid. Like I said, I have a plan…”

***

After the funeral, Lucas and his family returned home, only to find Max sitting on their front stoop.

“Ooh. Is that your _girlfriend_?” Erica said, tauntingly.

“No she’s not.” Lucas said.

Lucas got out of the car and met Max at the door as his parents greeted her and entered the house. Erica was going to say something, but her dad called her into the house and told her to stop bothering the two.

“She’s cute.” Max said.

“She’s annoying.” Lucas said.

“Isn’t that what little sisters are for?”

Lucas shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess.” Lucas said.

He sat down next to Max on the stairs. The two sat in silence for a few moments before both Lucas and Max began to speak at once.

“You go first.” Lucas said.

Max blushed.

“No, you go first.” Max said.

“Okay. Um…why weren’t you had the funeral today?” Lucas asked. “I looked for you but you weren’t there.”

Max looked down at the ground.

“I…uh…I didn’t really feel comfortable going, to be honest.” Max said, holding back the real reason she didn’t want to go. “I know that sounds bad, but…I don’t really deal with funerals well.”

Max paused for a moment, still staring down at the ground. She then took a deep breath, turning to Lucas.

“Did I ever tell you that I live with my stepbrother?”

Lucas shook his head.

“To be honest, you haven’t told me much of anything about you.” Lucas said.

Max blushed and looked away from Lucas.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’m not really good around people.” Max said, taking another deep breath before continuing. “A few months ago my mom and stepdad died in a car crash back in California.”

“Oh God, Max, I’m sorry.” Lucas said.

Max nodded her head, discreetly wiping a tear from her eye, hoping Lucas didn’t notice.

“Yeah, it’s been bad. That’s why I didn’t go. I didn’t…I don’t…”

Max felt herself getting closer and closer to just breaking down and telling Lucas the truth. Sure, she wasn’t comfortable with funerals after the death of her parents, but the real reason was the Incident with Billy.

She knew she couldn’t go the funeral if…if…

Finally, Max made a quick decision and planted her mouth on Lucas, giving him a long, deep kiss. She had to find some way to shut her mouth, and she may have just found the perfect way.

***

That night Spears made sure to park his car far from the entrance to Hopper’s private dirt road. He got out of the car and headed down the street towards it, making sure no one was walking.

One he reached the “Private Way” sign, he walked up the path, finding Hopper’s truck.

“Bingo.” Spears whispered to himself under his breath.

Spears continued up the path until the cabin was in sight. He was about to take another step when he caught a glimpse of the tripwire he was about to pass.

“Sneaky son of a bitch.” Spears said to himself, carefully sneaking over the trip wire and all the other ones placed around the cabin.

Finally, he reached the front door to the cabin. He reached out and tried the knob, but it was locked. He knelt down and used a lock pick to open the lock. He slowly slid the door open and snuck inside, freezing when one of the floorboards creaked.

He waited for a minute until he was confident that no one had heard him. He made a series of small, careful footsteps towards the first bedroom, which was Mike’s. He noticed a figure lying under the blanket on the ground.

Spears raised his silenced handgun and squeezed off three shots into the figure before turning and heading for the next door, which was El’s room. He again squeezed off three shots.

Noticing the teddy bear that he had seen in old surveillance footage from El’s room, he crept up to the makeshift bed to confirm her identity.

He pulled the blanket off the makeshift, revealing a bundle of pillows.

“Hey.” Hopper said from behind him.

Spears whipped around, only to be smacked in the face with a baseball bat.


	15. Chapter 15

Spears woke up, finding his hands and legs bound together with rope and a pair of handcuffs. He spit out some blood and pieces of broken teeth. Hopper heard him stirring in the back of Hopper’s truck.

“Good morning.” Hopper said.

“Where the hell am I?” Spears asked.

Hopper said nothing, only concentrating on the road.

“I said, where the hell am I?” Speared demanded.

“We’re on our way to meet a friend.” Hopper said.

“A friend of yours or a friend of mine?” Spears asked.

“Depends on how helpful you are.” Hopper said.

The two sat in silence for a moment before Spears spoke up.

“I’m not going to tell you anything, you know.” Spears said.

Hopper laughed.

“Oh, I think you will.” Hopper said.

Spears laughed himself.

“You’re not going to get a single thing you want.” He said.

Hopper sighed and slowed the truck to a stop on the side of the road. He grabbed the baseball bat from the passenger seat of the truck and turned to the back.

“Shut the fuck up.” Hopper said.

He then smacked Spears hard in the head with the tip of the bat, knocking him back out.

“I’m getting real sick of that son of a bitch.” Hopper said, heading back out onto the road.

***

Once Hopper was gone, Mike and El decided to spend sometime in the main room of the cabin, which Hopper and finally got around to furnishing as a living room. Neither Mike nor El had beds yet, but Hopper promised the moment he got a spare moment he would fix that.

But El didn’t care. Her current accommodations were better than she had ever had, and she had never been happier.

As she sat down on the couch with Mike, she smiled wide and rested her head on Mike’s shoulder.

Mike knew he should be happy, but he obviously couldn’t stop thinking about his family. He still felt guilty over there deaths. His heart was broken, and he was worried it would never be fixed. He thought that the only person who had any chance of fixing it was El.

“You okay?” El asked.

Mike jumped out of his thoughts and turned to El and smiled.

“Yeah. Just thinking.” Mike said.

“About?”

Mike took a deep breath.

“Just everything, I guess.” Mike said.

El shifted herself closer to Mike, resting her face closer to Mike’s next. The two sat in silence for a few moments, then El spoke up.

“Hopper promised me a present a few days ago but hasn’t given it to me yet.” El said sadly.

“Well, he’s been busy. I’m sure when things come down he’ll bring it to you.” Mike said.

El sighed.

“Okay.” She said, pouting.

Mike laughed to himself.

“What?” El asked.

“Nothing.”

El pulled herself away from Mike and looked him in the eye.

“What? What’s funny? I want to laugh too.” She said.

“It’s you. You’re funny.” Mike said.

A confused look crossed El’s face.

“How?” She asked.

“Just the way you pouted over having to wait for your present.” He said, smiling.

“Pouting?” She asked.

“You know, this.” Mike said, impersonating El’s pout.

El smiled and giggle slightly.

“Okay. It’s funny. I understand.” She said.

The two stared at each other for a few moments before Mike slowly started to lean in close to El. They were just about to kiss when:

The distinct knock came at the door.

“Hopper!” El said excitedly, getting up from the couch and rushing over to the door.

She undid the locks with a huge smile on her face, only for it to drop when she saw the person standing on the other side.

“Oh.” El said. “Hi.”

Nancy smiled down at El.

“Well, hello to you too.” Nancy said, following a disappointed El into the cabin. “Good to know I’m loved...”

“Nancy!” Mike yelled out.

He got up from the couch and ran over to her, enveloping her in a deep hug. A disappointed El returned to the couch and sat down, crossing her arms and pouting, wishing it was Hopper home safe. She had only known him for a short while, but she could feel she was starting to love him like family, just like Mike told her about.

“Hey Mikey.” She said.

The two held each other for a minute before separating.

“What’re you doing here? How’d you know the knock?” Mike asked hurriedly.

“The Chief called. Wanted someone to watch you guys while he was out “hunting” or something. Told me the knock.” Nancy said.

“He wanted you to watch us? We’re sixteen! We can handle ourselves!”

“Well, that’s not...exactly what he said. What he really wanted me to do was keep an eye on_you_.” Nancy said.

Mike’s face dropped and he blushed a deep red.

“Exactly.” Nancy said smiling.

Nancy watched his face for a minute before speaking, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Mike. Once I get things figured out back here, you’ll come live with me.”

Mike looked startled. She stepped back from her.

“Nancy, I love you and all, but I’m actually happy here. I get to see El everyday, and the Chief isn’t so bad. He’s kinda nice actually.”

Nancy looked surprised.

“The Chief. Really?” Nancy said. “But Mike, you really can’t live here forever. The Chief has a lot on his plate as is.”

Mike shook his head.

“I don’t want to talk about this now.” Mike said. “We’ll talk later, okay?”

Nancy nodded her head.

***

Hopper pulled up in front of Murray’s warehouse and got out of his truck. He headed for the door and rang the buzzer, looking up at the camera.

“What?” Murray said.

“We’re not doing this again. Get out here. I need your help.”

A moment later the door to the warehouse opened and Murray stepped out. He followed Hopper to the back of his truck, and was shocked at what he saw when Hopper opened the back door of the truck.

“Jesus Christ, Hopper! What’ve you gotten me into?” Murray demanded.

Hopper reached in and grabbed hold of Spears’ bound legs.

“Just help me get in him your place.” Hopper said.

Murray sighed and rolled his eyes, helping pull Spears from the truck and dropping him to the ground. Spears groaned.

“Shut up.” Hopper said curtly, delivering a sharp kick to his stomach.

“Geez Hopper. What’d this guy do to you?” Murray asked.

“Remember the girl?”

Murray nodded his head.

“He came for her. Killed most of her boyfriends family.”

Murray went pale white and felt his knees go weak as Hopper grabbed Spears’ legs and dragged him back to Murray’s warehouse. Murray went chasing after, and calling after Hopper said:

“Wait! At least cover his eyes with something!”

Hopper turned his head toward Murray.

“That’s not going to be a problem.” Hopper said.

Back in Murray’s warehouse, they seated the still bound Spears in a metal folding chair. Hopper loosened his bindings and tied them to the chair.

“We shouldn’t be doing this, Hopper. We have no idea who this guy is working for.” Murray said.

“No, but I have an idea.” Hopper said.

Hopper gets in close to Spears face. Spears is still only semi-conscious.

“HEY!” Hopper shouted, slapping Spears.

Spears groans and opens his eyes.

“That’s better.” Hopper said.

“This is a really bad idea, Hopper.” Murray said.

Hopper turned to Murray. Hopper threw his arms up in the air.

“It’s the only idea I have, so we have no choice.” Hopper said.

“Where the hell am I?” Spears asked.

Hopper and Murray turned to him.

“Not important.” Hopper said. “What is important, is what kind of information you can give us.”

Spears attempted to laugh, but only coughed. He shook his head.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that to get me to talk.” Spears said.

Hopper smiled.

“I was hoping you would say something like that.” Hopper said.

Hopper turned to Murray.

“Follow me. I need to get some stuff from the truck.”

Murray nodded, and, giving one last glance to Spears, followed after Hopper. Once outside, Murray spoke up.

“What exactly do you plan on doing with him?” Murray asked.

Hopper reached into the back of the truck and pulled out a duffel bag, dropping it to the ground.

While Hopper and Murray spoke outside, Spears got to work. He quickly pulled his hands at his bindings, trying to free his hands, but go no results. Next he tried his legs. He could feel the bindings on one of his legs loosening, but ended up knocking the chair, and of course himself, over onto the ground.

“Shit.” He muttered to himself after hitting his head on the cold, concrete floor.

He continued to try and free one of his legs from the bindings and after a moment was successful. He used his free foot to help free the next. Once both his feet were free, he slowly got to his feet and began to shake his arms and upper body, trying anything he could to free his hands from their bindings.

After a moment, they were free and the metal chair clattered to the ground. Spears froze in place, worried that Hopper and Murray heard it, but they just continued to argue outside. He smiled to himself.

He slowly crept around the warehouse looking for a weapon to use, but came up empty. Instead, he decided to just escape. He would come back for the two later.

He looked around, looking for some kind of back entrance, but found none.

“Shit.” He said to himself.

He would have to use the front door and have to try and make a run for it.

Spears went for the front door and slowly opened it, peeking his head out and spying on Hopper and Murray, who were still arguing about him by Hopper’s truck.

_Now or never, _Spears thought to himself. He ran as fast he could for the woods. At first, he went by entirely unnoticed by Hopper or Murray, but finally Murray spotted him.

“Hopper! Look!” Murray said, pointing to Spears.

“Aw hell.” Hopper said to himself, starting after Spears.

Somehow, despite being injured and being on the slightly heavy side, Spears was able to outrun Hopper.

“Fuck it.” Hopper said.

He drew his revolver and fired one shot at Spears, striking him in the lower ride side of the back. Spears collapsed in the forest and let out a scream followed by a low groan.

“Jesus, Hopper!” Murray yelled out, his hands still covering his ears.

Hopper turned to Murray.

“Help me get him back in side! Quickly!” He said.

***

Hopper and Murray carried a badly injured Spears back into the warehouse. They headed over to the kitchen, where Hopper freed one arm from Spears and pushed everything off of the table. The two place Spears on the table, face down.

Hopper pulled up Spears shirt, revealing a bullet wound in the back. He rolled him on his side and found a larger exit wound on the other side, which was bleeding profusely.

“Shit. I got ‘em good.” Hopper said.

Hopper turned to Murray while applying pressure to the wound.

“Do you have a first aid kid?” Murray shook his head. “Fine! Dish towels, blankets, anything! We need to...”

“You can’t save me.” Spears said, a bloody smile appearing on his face. “I can feel it. I’m already dead and I’m going to take my secrets with me.”

Hopper, realizing that Spears was probably right, dug a finger into Spears’ wound, causing him to scream loudly. He stuck in an another finger, making the pain even worse. He screamed in pain.

“Tell me exactly who you work for. Who sent you after the girl?” Hopper demanded.

Spears laughed through the pain.

“I’ll never...” Spears died halfway through his sentence, his eyes rolling in the back of his head.

Hopper withdrew his fingers.

“Fuck!” Hopper screamed out.

Hopper began to pace around the room while Murray stared at Spears’ lifeless body.

***

Brenner rushed into his office, slamming the door behind himself. He was stressed. It had been a couple of days since he had last heard from Spears and he was getting worried. His bosses were getting angrier and angrier, and they wanted immediate results.

He reached for his phone and dialed Spears’ number. It just kept ringing.

“Fuck!” Brenner yelled out, slamming the phone down.

_If he was never at that fucking motel, then what the hell am I paying for? _Brenner thought to himself, taking a seat in his chair.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick heads up: I'll be going away on Friday and won't be back until Monday, so don't expect any updates until then. Sorry!

Hopper buried the head of the shovel into the ground at the head of what was now Spears’ grave. It had taken him hours to dig the grave and fill it back in, but it was finally done. It was evening when he finally finished.

He took a moment to collect himself and replayed the moments of the day over in his head, hating himself for letting it go wrong.

He shook his head and walked back to the warehouse. Inside, he found Murray scrubbing every inch of the warehouse with bleach.

“I think you’re really overthinking this, Murray.” Hopper said.

The sound of Hopper’s voice made Murray jump and drop the mop he was holding. He bent over and picked it back up before speaking.

“That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have to live less than 500 feet from the man’s body!” Murray said.

“But I do have to live with killing him.” Hopper said.

Murray scoffed.

“Is that _really_ going to bother you?” Murray asked.

Hopper’s face dropped and he looked to the floor before answering.

“Depends.” Hopper said.

Murray shrugged his shoulders, expecting more of an answer out of Hopper.

“’Depends’? On what?”

“If anything happens to the kid.”

***

Nancy, Mike and El had a quiet dinner that evening, having had frozen food from Hopper’s fridge.

“The Chief needs to go shopping more.” Nancy remarked as she helped Mike clean the dishes.

Mike nodded in agreement. The two continued to wash the dishes before Nancy spoke up.

“We need to decide what to do about the house.” Nancy said.

Mike turned to her with a confused look on his face.

“What’d you mean?” He asked.

“I mean, do you ever what to live in that place again? After...” Nancy said.

Mike took a deep breath and shook his head.

“It’s going to be hard enough going back to get my stuff, let alone live in that place.” He said.

“I guess we can _try_ and sell it, but I think it’s going to be a tough sell.” Nancy said. “People in town are already calling it the ‘Murder House’.”

Mike visibly cringed at the name.

“I’m sorry, Mike. I shouldn’t’ve told you that.” She said.

Mike shook his head.

“No. It’s fine. Someone would’ve told me eventually.”

After a moment, Mike spoke up and finally got something that had been worrying him all day.

“I’m scared to go back to school.” Mike said.

“You don’t have to go back right away, you know that, right? You need some time to heal.” Nancy said.

Mike nodded his head.

“I know, but I have to go back eventually. I already have to deal with a lot of shit there as it is. But now...” Mike said.

“Maybe they’ll be nice to you, after all thats happened.”

Mike shook his head.

“You don’t know these kids like I do.” Mike said, mournfully.

***

Will was biking down Mirkwood, headed for home. He was happy, having just had a great night with the rest of the Party. Suddenly, he heard a loud engine approach quickly from behind. He turned around, but saw no headlights, and in the dark, couldn’t see the car that was coming for him.

Before he could do anything, he was flying through the air and…

Will shot up in his bed and screamed, sweat pouring down in his face. Within moments both Joyce and Jonathan were in his room.

“It was just a nightmare, honey.” Joyce said, sitting on the edge of Will’s bed and stroking his hair.

“I know, but it was so real.” Will said through tears.

Joyce sighed.

“Will, I think you should see a psychiatrist.” Joyce said.

“I don’t need a shrink!” Will said.

“Will, it’ll help. I used to go to one, remember?” Jonathan said.

Will stared at Jonathan.

“And you stopped, remember?” Will said.

Jonathan opened his mouth to speak, but instead turned and left the room. Will turned to his mom.

“I didn’t mean to...”

“I know. He knows. But this is exactly why I think you should see someone. Someone who knows how to talk about these things better than me and your brother.” Joyce said.

“I don’t know mom...” Will said. “What if the other kids at school find out?”

Joyce paused for a moment, trying to think of the right thing to say.

“You know what? Screw ‘em.” Joyce said. “Kids can be jerks. If they act like that, just ignore them and eventually they’ll give up. Or sic your brother on them. That’ll solve the problem.”

Will smiled.

***

That night El spent most of it tossing and turning in bed. She was having nightmares of her time back at the lab. They had been tormenting her ever since she left the lab, but she tried her best to keep them hidden from anyone. She didn’t want anyone to worry about her more than they might already be.

***

A few years ago, El was seated in her cell, using a crayon to draw on an old piece of paper. She was drawing some kind of bird. She knew there were lots of different kinds of birds, but she wasn’t sure what kind she was drawing. She decided to name it “El’s Bird” in her sloppy handwriting. No super creative, she knew, but she didn’t have any other words to describe it as.

As she admired her drawing, the cell to her door opened and Papa stepped in. He smiled at her.

“What did you draw?”

“A bird.” El said, holding the picture up for Brenner.

Brenner’s face suddenly went deadly serious and he quickly stepped toward El and grabbed the picture out of her hands. He examined the picture. It was a drawing of a mockingbird.

Brenner quickly tore the picture up in front of El who immediately burst into tears. He continued ripping up the picture until it was in tiny pieces. He then got down close to El and held her by the shoulders.

“Never draw something like that. Understand?”

El just stared at him, tears in her eyes. Brenner shook her.

“Do you understand?”

El nodded her head.

***

El’s breathing started to get faster and she started to feel sick to her stomach. She didn’t know it, but she was starting to have a panic attack, of which she would have many in the future. She tried to fight it, but realized she couldn’t do it alone, at least not that night.

She got up off of the floor and quickly but quietly headed for Mike’s room and kneeled down, crawling into his ‘bed’ next to him. He slowly stirred and looked at her worriedly.

“El? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He asked.

El shook her head and burst into quiet tears, burying her face into Mike’s chest. Mike wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, trying to calm her down. After a few moments, El spoke up.

“Can you sing me a lullaby?” El asked.

Mike blushed at the suggestion. He wasn’t exactly a good singer.

“Uh, if it’ll help I guess.” Mike said. “Which one?

“Um, the one with the bird and the diamond ring?” El asked, not knowing the name of the song.

“’Hush Little Baby’?” Mike asked. “Sure. But I have to warn you, I’m not a good singer.”

El didn’t say anything, so Mike took that as a signal to start.

“Hush, little Baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.”

At the mention of ‘mockingbird’, Mike felt El tense up in his grasp, but he continued.

“And if that mocking bird don’t sing, Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring. And if that diamond ring...”

El interrupted Mike before he could continue.

“What’s a diamond ring?” El asked.

“A ring is a piece of jewelry that you wear around your finger. A diamond is a shiny stone that is place in the ring.” Mike said. “Normally people give them to someone they want to marry.”

“Oh.” El said. “Can I get you one?”

Mike felt his face glow red hot at the suggestion that El wanted to marry him. He chuckled nervously.

“Uh, El, they’re kind of expensive.” Mike said.

“Expensive?”

“They cost a lot of money.” Mike said.

“Oh.” El said.

“Do you want me to finish the song?” Mike asked.

He felt El shake her head against his chest.

“That bad, huh?” Mike said.

He heard a slight giggle from El. After a moment of comfortable silence between the two, El spoke up.

“If I draw you a diamond ring, would that be good enough?”

Mike smiled. He took a deep breath and tightened his hold on her.

“You don’t need to do that. Besides, usually the guy gives the girl the ring.” Mike said.

“Oh.” El said. “Can I still do it anyway?”

Mike chuckled.

“Of course, El. I’d love it.”

***

Brenner was seated at a large conference table, waiting on his superiors. He was supposed to give them an update on the search for the girl. He was idly playing with the pen in his hand, nervous as to how the meeting would go.

_Where the fuck are you, Spears?_ Brenner thought to himself.

The conference room doors opened and three men in suits stepped in. Brenner stood up and greeted each of them.

“Well, Dr. Brenner. This is one real shit show you’re in ‘control’ of.” One of the men said.

Brenner wanted to snap back at him, but bit his tongue.

“I’m sorry sir. The guards...” Brenner was cut off by the man.

“The guards are under your command. Their mistakes are your mistakes, Brenner.” The man said. “So don’t try and hide behind them.”

Brenner nervously shook his head.

“I was trying to hide behind them. I was merely...”

“Have you heard from your man? About the girl?”

Brenner took a deep, nervous breath. He shook his head.

“No sir. It’s been a few days.” Brenner said.

“You’ve already lost one man and now it seems you’ve lost another. I’m disappointed in you, Brenner. I had high hopes for you.” The man said.

Brenner was starting to get worried now.

“I’m sure he’s fine, sir. He might just be working a lead and not have time to report it. It does happen...”

“Let’s hope so.” The man said, getting up from his seat. “For your sake.”

***

The next morning, Hopper arrived back at the cabin early, waking all three up early with the knock.

“Sorry for showing up so early.” Hopper said to Nancy. “I’ve got some cash...”

“Oh no! Don’t worry about it.” Nancy said. “Mike’s my brother after all.”

Nancy noticed that Hopper was carrying a heavy box.

“What’s in the box?”

“Present for El.” Hopper said.

“Ah.” Nancy said, smiling. “She’s been talking about this mythical present ever since I got here.”

Hopper smiled as he entered the cabin. He placed the box on the floor in the living room.

“Is she up yet?”

Nancy shook her head.

“No. She and Mike are still sleeping.” She said.

Hopper sighed. I need to get those two beds.” Hopper said. “I feel terrible having them sleep on the floor like animals.”

“Oh, I don’t think they mind.” Nancy said, a playful smile on her face.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hopper asked.

Nancy motioned toward Mike’s room.

“Go see for yourself.” Nancy said.

Hopper headed straight for Mike’s room and poked his head in. What he saw was Mike lying on his back on his makeshift bed, with El resting her head on his chest, her arms wrapped around his body. Mike had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, holding her close to them. They both breathed slowly and quietly, resting comfortably.

Hopper took a deep breath, shook his head, and headed back to Nancy.

“You let that happen?” Hopper demanded.

Nancy put her hands up in her defense.

“Relax, Chief. Nothing happened, trust me. Mike isn’t that kind of guy.” Nancy said.

“That’s the problem: Mike is a _guy_. A sixteen-year-old _guy_. I used to be one of those and I remember what went through my mind anytime I was that close to a girl.” Hopper said.

Nancy shook her head.

“But you have to admit: it _is _kind of adorable.” Nancy said.

Hopper stared at her for a moment.

“I would never say such a crazy thing.” Hopper said.

_But I might think it_. Hopper thought to himself. _Stop it! You’re getting too soft!_


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I managed to get back a day earlier than I expected, so here is the next chapter!

El was the first to wake up that morning. Her eyes flutter opened and she found herself still tangled up in Mike. She smiled, until she heard Hopper’s heavy footsteps in the cabin. She quickly pulled herself away from Mike and shook him awake.

“What? What’s going on?” He asked, clearing the sleep from his eyes.

“Hopper.” El said.

It was all she needed to say to get Mike to spring into action.

“Oh God. Okay.” Mike said. “Umm…I’ll distract Hopper and you sneak to your room, got it?”

El nodded her head nervously. Mike made his way to the door and slowly opened it a crack, peeking out into the hallway. He turned back to El.

“Once I start talking to him, go.” Mike said.

But El was ignoring him. Instead she was staring above him. Mike’s face dropped and he slowly turned to see Hopper standing over him.

“Planning a breakout, are we?” Hopper said.

Mike swallowed hard as El approached Mike and grabbed his hand.

“Please don’t kill him.” She said, completely serious.

Hopper felt his heart soften. He _was_ planning on messing with them for a while, but after seeing El’s face, he quickly changed his mind.

“Kid, I was only fuckin’ with you two. It’s fine. Nancy told me anything.” Hopper said.

Mike breathed a sign of relief.

“What is ‘fuckin’’ mean?” El asked.

Hopper’s eyes went wide.

“Uh, don’t worry about it kid. Just a word. Don’t use it.” Hopper said.

El nodded her head and smiled, happy that Mike wasn’t going to die, although Mike wasn’t quite sure if Hopper was telling the truth.

“I’ve got Eggos ready for you, El.” Hopper said, giving her a small smile.

El quickly let go of Mike’s hand and rushed into the kitchen, leaving Mike and Hopper alone. Hopper’s previously smiling face quickly changed and went dead serious.

“I...I’m sorry sir.” Mike said. “She had a nightmare and...”

“Relax, Wheeler.” Hopper said. “I believe you.”

Mike breathed a sigh of relief. Hopper then leaned in close to him.

“But she’s my daughter now.” Hopper said, saying the words out loud for the first time.

He felt a surge of relief and happiness move over him, a feeling her certainly didn’t expect.

“And she’s not...she’s not like other sixteen-year-old girls. She doesn’t know about...you know. Stuff.” Hopper said. “I’m fine with you being her boyfriend, believe it or not. I don’t know why, but I do. Just don’t...just don’t mess with her, if you know what I mean.”

Mike quickly nodded his head.

“Don’t worry Chief. I would never.” Mike said.

Hopper smiled.

“Please. Call me Hop or Hopper. I think you’ve earned it.” Hopper said.

Mike felt a bit uneasy, but nodded his head as Hopper put his hand on his shoulder.

“But if you ever hurt her, you’ll end up like the guy I just got done burying.” He said.

Mike’s eyed went wide.

“The guy that...you...you killed him?” Mike asked.

Hopper looked at him for a moment before nodding his head. Suddenly, Mike did something that Hopper really didn’t expect: he launched himself into Hopper’s arms and hugged him.

“Thank you.” Mike said.

Hopper was about to say that he did it for El, not him, but he knew that wasn’t true. The kid was starting to grow on him fast, and it was driving him nuts.

Finally, Hopper cleared his throat, signaling Mike to let go, which he did.

“Now go eat breakfast, but don’t tell El that I killed the guy. Just tell her...that he’s not a problem anymore.” Hopper said.

Mike nodded his head and headed for breakfast.

***

Will was lying in his bed, surrounded by the Party, minus Mike of course. The Party had shown up earlier that morning to cheer up Will.

“So you finally get to come back tomorrow, right?” Lucas asked.

Will nodded his head nervously.

“Yeah, I’m kinda nervous about it, especially if Mike’s not going to be there.” Will turned to the others. “No offense, guys.”

Dustin shook his head.

“No worries. We understand.” He said.

“Has anyone talked to him since the funeral?” Max asked. “Is he still mad at you guys?”

The three of them shook their heads.

“To be honest, I’m worried about him.” Lucas said.

“Let’s find out how he’s doing.” Dustin said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out his Supercom.

“Dude, you still use that thing?” Lucas asked.

Dustin nodded his head.

“Yeah, and it’s been pretty lonely on the radio.” Dustin said, giving Lucas a friendly glare.

Dustin held the radio up to his face and spoke.

“Mike! Come in! Over!” He said.

They didn’t get a response for a minute and were about to try again when Mike finally spoke.

“This is Mike. Over.” He said.

“Where are you? Are you okay? Over.” Dustin asked.

“I’m fine. I’m with El. Over.” Mike said.

Dustin rolled his eyes and made kissing noises into the radio.

“Grow up, Dustin. We’re having breakfast. Over.” Mike said.

“So you’re not mad at us anymore? Over.” Lucas asked.

“I didn’t say that, exactly. Over.” Mike said.

“Why don’t you come over to Will’s? We’re all over here. Over.” Dustin said.

After a minute, Mike finally responded.

“Okay, fine, I’ll be right over. Over and out.” Mike said.

***

Mike stashed the Supercom near his “bed” and exited his room.

“I’m going over to Will’s.” Mike said.

“I’ll drive you.” Hopper said.

Mike shook his head.

“No, I’ll be fine. Besides, then Mrs. Byers would have to drive me home.” Mike said.

_Exactly_, Hopper thought to himself, but agreed with Mike anyway.

Hopper had been thinking about Joyce a lot lately, reminiscing over their high school days. He was concerned about the feelings he was starting to feel for her. He didn’t want to bring her into his mess, but he wasn’t sure if he could keep himself away from her.

“Can I go?” El asked.

Hopper firmly shook his head.

“Absolutely not. You are not to leave this cabin until everything is taken care of. That one guy might be gone, but there might be others. Only then can you leave without me. Got it, kid?”

El nodded her head. Hopper turned to Mike.

“Wheeler?”

Mike nodded his head.

“I’m counting on you to protect her when I’m not around, and you can’t do that if you break the rules, understand.”

Mike nodded his head.

“Understood, sir.” He said.

Mike headed out the door, towards Will’s house, leaving Hopper and El alone. Hopper turned to a sad looking El.

“Remember that present I talked about a few days ago?” Hopper asked.

Suddenly, El perked up and quickly nodded her head.

Hopper motioned with his head for her to follow him to the main room of the cabin, where he opened the box and pulled out a small TV set. El looked confused.

“What is it?” She asked.

“It’s a TV set.” Hopper said, setting down on a small table in front of the couch.

“T-V.” El said.

“Yup. Every parents favorite babysitter.” He said.

El looked at him, confused. Hopper shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Hopper plugged the set in and turned it on. At first, El was scared by the sudden appearance of people and voices in the cabin, but she quickly became enamored with it, sitting on the couch and staring at it.

“I gotta go to work, okay kid?” Hopper said.

El didn’t respond.

“Kid?” Hopper repeated, finally getting her attention.

“Huh?” She asked.

“I’m going to work.” Hopper said.

El smiled, nodded her head, and turned back to the TV.

***

Steve sighed. He had been on duty, parked down the street from Melvald’s working a speed trap for hours, and he was exhausted and frustrated. While Callahan and Powell were splitting their duties, half the time working their normal Hawkins PD roles and the other half assisting the ISP in their homicide investigations, Steve was stuck with the fluffy jobs.

Steve knew that Hopper was going easy on him after getting shot. Part of him was grateful, since he was having trouble dealing with the whole situation, but the other half of him resented Hopper for not having more faith in him.

Suddenly, a car down the street backfired, sending shockwaves of panic through Steve’s body. He jumped in his seat and instinctively reached for his gun, but moved his hand away when he realized it was just a car.

He put his hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat faster and faster. His palms were getting sweaty and felt a wave a nausea pass over him. He took a series of deep breaths, trying to calm himself down when another shock came to him.

Someone rapped loudly on his window, causing him to jump again. It was Robin. Steve rolled down the window.

“Sorry to scare you.” Robin said.

Steve shook his head, his breathing fast.

“It’s fine. Just caught me by surprise, is all.” He said.

Robin had a look of concern on her face.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Steve glanced away from her for a moment before answering.

“Uh, yeah. Fine. Just fine.” He said, giving her a false smile.

Robin stared at him with a disbelieving look on her face. She walked around to the other side of the car and sat in the passenger seat.

“You know I’m on duty right?” Steve said. “I could get in trouble for having you here.”

Robin scoffed.

“Grow a pair, Harrington.” Robin said, eliciting a slight chuckle from Steve. “You know, I’ve heard all these stories about you and your hair, and yet, it doesn’t look all that special to me.”

Steve smiled and ran his fingers through his short hair.

“Yeah, well, the Department has regulations on hair so...” Steve said.

“Must’ve been sad. Did you hold a funeral?”

Steve laughed again. The two sat in silence for a moment before Robin spoke up.

“Well, I gotta go.” She said. “Um, are you busy later?”

Steve shook his head.

“Nope. I’m all free.”

“Great. Um...there’s this place I know up in Bloomington, it’s nice, and I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me?”

Steve paused for a moment before nodding his head.

“Yeah, that’s sounds great!” He said.

***

El was alone, again. But this time, at least, she had something more to do. She sat on the floor, staring at the TV, flipping through the channels, until she finally found something she wanted to watch. She wasn’t sure what it was, but the first few images she caught piqued her interest.

On the TV, a black and white movie was playing. In it, a couple was talking.

“You know, I’ve never met anyone quite like you.” The man said, placing his hand on the woman’s cheek.

“Really? Me?” The woman said.

El scooted closer to the TV, until her face was almost pressed against the screen.

The man smiled and leaned in close and the two shared a kiss. El smiled, thinking of Mike. The couple parted.

“Lets get out of here. Just you and me. We could get married.” The man said in a sudden burst of passion.

“But Peter! My father...”

“Ah, to hell with your father!” Peter said. “It’ll just be the two of us, dear, forever.”

El stared, enraptured with the movie before she got a sudden idea. She turned the TV off and rushed to her room. She reached into her bag and pulled out her crayons and grabbed a piece of paper and began to furiously draw something.

***

“Guys! I’m here!” Mike said, entering Will’s house and heading for his room. There he found the Party. His eyes immediately drifted to Max.

After a tense moment.

“Hi. I don’t think we officially met. I’m Mike.” Mike said.

“I’m Max.” Max replied.

Lucas, Dustin and Will all silently breathed a sigh of relief as Mike took a seat.

“So what’s this all about? It almost feels like an intervention or something.” Mike said.

“We just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay, after everything.” Lucas said.

“I’m...I’m doing the best I can.” Mike said. “I know I’ll never be the same, but I’ll find my way back to being as close to normal as possible.”

The group sat in silence for a few moments, taking in Mike’s words before Dustin spoke up.

“So how’s El?” He asked.

“She’s okay. She’s learning stuff slowly, but it’s good she’s learning.” Mike said.

“Any chance I can meet her?” Mike shook his head.

“Not anytime soon. The Chief says she’s staying at the cabin until he’s confident that she is 100% safe.” Mike said.

“Maybe we could come by the cabin?” Dustin asked.

Mike shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll ask him, but I doubt it.”

***

Johnson & Son’s Real Estate. This is some place Nancy never expected to walk into, yet here she was, sitting across from Mr. Ronald Johnson himself.

“So you want to sell the house?” Johnson said.

“Yes. As soon as possible.” Nancy said.

Johnson let out a loud sigh and leaned back in his chair.

“I’m not sure how well that’s going to turn out. The events...well there still fresh in everyone’s minds. I think your best chance is to sell it to a developer, who will demolish the home and build a new one. Of course, you’ll have to take a hit on your asking price.” Johnson said.

“So you don’t think I’ll get what I’m asking for?” Nancy asked

Johnson nodded his head.

“We can try, but I doubt it. People are superstitious about this kind of thing.”

“How much of a hit are we talking about?”

Johnson did some quick math in his before speaking.

“I’m thinking 25%, so you can sell it for around $125,000.” He said.

Nancy looked to the floor, disappointed, but wanting to get this over with. She looked back up to Johnson and nodded her head.

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

***

Will’s injuries and the Wheeler tragedy, Joyce was exhausted. She was stacking new products on the shelves at Melvald’s when Hopper stepped in, setting off the little bell above the door. She turned to him and smiled, relieved to see him. Maybe now she could take a quick break.

“Hey Hop.” Joyce said.

“Joyce. Just came in to see how you and the kids are doing.” Hopper said, taking off his hat.

Joyce took a few steps toward Hopper, who was leaning on the counter. She took a deep breath.

“Well, Will’s healing, but he’s still having nightmares. Jonathan is taking him to his first appointment with his new psychiatrist.” Joyce said.

Hopper cringed.

“Yikes.” Hopper said.

“What? Don’t like psychiatrists?”

“Not really a big fan of head shrinkers.” Hopper said.

“Ah, come on Hop. You of all people should see one.” Joyce said, jokingly.

Hopper’s face suddenly went serious.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...”

Hopper put his hand up to stop her from talking and shook his head.

“No, no. It’s fine. I know what you meant.”

A moment passed between the two.

“How are you...” Both Hopper and Joyce spoke at the same time.

“I’m doing fine, Joyce.” Hopper said, smiling. “It’s a bit rough having two kids under the roof, but I’m managing.”

“I can always take them in, Hop. It’s no problem.” Joyce said.

Hopper shook his head.

“No. It would be too dangerous for you. Besides, the kid’s starting to grow on me. Hell, even the Wheeler kid is starting to grow on me.”

A smile crossed Joyce’s face. After another moment, Hopper spoke:

“Anyway, I just dropped by to check on you. Call me if you need anything.” Hopper said.

Hopper turned to leave, but Joyce stopped him by grabbing his arm.

“Hop, why don’t you come over for dinner tomorrow night? You can bring the kids with you. I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Joyce said.

Hopper thought for a moment, prepared to turn down her generous offer, but he decided against it.

“Sure. Sounds great.” He said.

***

Jonathan and Will stepped into Hawkins Memorial for the first time since Will had been discharged. Will felt a pang of anxiety when he entered the building, but was slightly calmed when Jonathan put a hand on his shoulder.

They made their way up to the fourth floor, where the doctor’s office was. They checked in and surprisingly only had to wait ten minutes before Dr. Sam Owens came out of his office and greeted the two.

“Hello. I’m Dr. Owens. You can call me Sam.” He said, warmly.

Will followed him into the office and took a seat on a chair.

“So, Will, I understand you’ve been through quite a lot the past few weeks.” Owens said.

Will nodded his head.

“Yes sir.”

Owens shook his head.

“No, please. I insist. Call me Sam. I like to try and keep things slightly informal and friendly around here.” He said.

Will smiled and nodded his head.

“How have you been feeling?”

“Okay. The pain’s not as bad as it used to be and I get the cast off in a few weeks, which I can’t wait for.” Will said.

“That’s great, but I was referring to your mind. How is your mind doing?

Will gulped. He thought for a minute, wondering if he should give a truthful answer.

“Not so great, to be honest. I’ve been having nightmares.” Will said.

“Tell me about them.” Owens said.

“Well...”

***

Later in the afternoon, Mike returned home to an overjoyed El, who wrapped her arms around him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“Gosh, El, I was only gone for a few hours.”

“Well it seemed like forever.”

El led Mike to the TV, where she had spent most of her day. They sat down on the couch.

“Is this what you’ve been doing all day?”

“Kind of. I like it. I also helped Pa...Hopper put together our new beds.”

Mike perked up at the mention of new beds.

“He got us new beds?”

El nodded her head.

“Awesome!” Mike said as he got up from the couch.

He ran to his room and flung himself onto his new, soft bed, happy that at least this part of his life was slowly returning to normal. El watched him from the door way, smiling. After a moment, Mike got up from his bed and headed for his door.

“Where are you going?” El asked.

“I wanna see your bed too.” Mike said.

El’s eyes suddenly went wide with panic and she ran to her room.

“Hey! Wait up!” Mike said as he ran after her.

When Mike entered her room, he found her hiding away a piece of paper, which he saw she had started to draw something on.

“Hey. What’s that?” Mike said, motioning to the piece of paper.

“Nothing.” El said, hiding the paper behind her back.

Mike stepped toward her.

“Come on, show me.”

El’s face suddenly went serious.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because...it’s not done yet.” El said.

“So you’ll show me when it’s done?” Mike said.

El shook her head.

“Yes. It’s a present for you. But don’t go snooping for it.” She said.

“Okay, I won’t.” Mike said.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

***

Joyce was surprised to hear a knock at the door at 9PM that night. Jonathan followed close behind her as she opened the door, revealing Nancy standing beyond it.

“Hi Mrs. Byers, Jonathan. Sorry for bothering you, but I kind of need a place to stay. Steve is...having a friend over for the night.” Nancy said.

“Of course dear! No problem!” Joyce said.

“Thank you.” Nancy said as she stepped into the house.

“You can take my room. I’ll sleep on the couch.” Jonathan said.

“Oh no, the couch will be just fine.”

“No, I insist.” Jonathan said, giving her a small, nervous smile.

Nancy smiled back and nodded her head.

“You can stay longer than just tonight dear. I’m sure we can work something out.” Joyce said.

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Byers. To be honest, it’s been a bit weird living with Steve.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! A chapter filled to the brim with Mileven fluff!

The next morning, Mike woke up having experienced the best sleep he’d had since before his family’s deaths. He sat up in his warm, toasty bed and stretched. He could hear Hopper and El talking in the kitchen over breakfast, but Mike decided not to join them, not wanting to leave his warm bed.

He laid back down facing the doorway and wrapped his think blanket around his body. He sighed in relief. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever felt so comfortable in his life.

He was just starting to doze off when the heard the door to the cabin close, and then the pitter patter of El’s feet heading for his door. She threw open the door and jumped into the bed with him. She pulled part of the blanket away from Mike and climbed underneath it.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Mike said, a smile on his face.

El laid her head down on a pillow and stared into Mike’s eyes and smiled.

“Well now it’s mine.” She said.

Thus began a tug of war over the blanket, a war which Mike quickly lost, much to his surprise. He ceded most of the blanket to El, taking the last small bit for himself. He wasn’t mad. As long as his girlfriend was comfortable, so was he.

“I like your blanket better than mine.” El said.

“Why’s that? We have the same type of blanket.” Mike said.

“Yeah, but yours smells like you.”

Mike blushed and smiled.

“Then we can trade.” Mike said.

“Really?”

Mike nodded his head.

“Sure.”

El quickly unraveled herself from the blanket and ran to her room, returning a moment later and tossing her blanket at Mike, who broke out into laughter as El climbed back into the bed.

“What’s so funny?” El asked.

“Nothing. It’s just how cute you are. How excited you get over the smallest things.” Mike said.

El’s expression went serious and she furrowed her brow.

“It’s not small. It means a lot. It means I have a bit of you with me.” El said.

Mike smiled and leaned in close, kissing her. He slowly pulled away from her before suddenly leaning in for another. El giggled as they parted for a second time.

The two stared into each other’s eyes, almost as if they were staring into each other’s souls. El moved herself closer to Mike, until their bodies were pressing against each other and their faces were inches apart. She could feel Mike’s warm breath on her face.

She shuddered a bit as she felt Mike place his hand just above her hip. He pulled it away.

“Sorry.” Mike said quietly.

El shook her head.

“It’s okay. It felt nice. You just surprised me.” She said.

Mike smiled and returned his hand to just above her hip. They were so close to each other, that they could feel each other’s heartbeat through their clothes. Despite their closeness, neither of their hearts were beating fast. They were beating slow, calm beats, the calm beats you would expect from a couple that had been together for years.

As he stared deeply into El’s eyes, Mike couldn’t understand how he managed to get so lucky, how he managed to not only finally get a girlfriend, but get a girlfriend as amazing as El. His El. During the moments the two were alone together, it was as if the entire outside world no longer existed, and it was just the two of them.

The sound of El speaking snapped Mike out of his deep thoughts.

“Sorry, what was that?” Mike asked, having missed what she said.

He noticed that El was blushing a very deep red.

“I love you.” El said.

Mike felt his lungs seize up in his chest.

_Holy shit_, he thought to himself. _Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit_. A wide, goofy smile crossed Mike’s face, eliciting a giggle from El.

“El.” Mike said.

That was all he said for a moment as he basked in the pure happiness that was filling his body.

“I love you too.” Mike said.

Mike noticed as her breath caught in her throat and a tear came from her eye and leaned in close, giving her a deep, passionate kiss that seemed to go on forever.

When they finally parted, they both gasped for air and smiled at each other. After a moment, El spoke up.

“I...I was...wondering...um...” El stammered.

Mike furrowed his brow as El reached out and took one of his hands. She held it for a moment, looking at the creases in his palms. She began tracing them with her fingers, and after a moment, she slowly guided his hand to her chest, letting his hand rest on one of her breasts.

Mike’s eyes went wide as they met El’s. They both laid still for a moment, before Mike gave her a slight squeeze. She gave out a slight moan, which set Mike’s heart racing.

_Holy shit I can’t believe this is happening_! Mike thought to himself. El thought the same thing. El slowly reached her hand down to the bottom of her shirt and started to pull it up.

_Wait_, Mike thought, _this shouldn’t be happening. Not now. Not under Hopper’s roof. He’s opened his home to me and trusts me to be responsible and respectful. I can’t let him down_.

Mike removed his hand from El’s chest and stopped her from lifting her shirt.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“We can’t do this. Not here.” Mike said.

“Oh. Okay. Then we’ll go somewhere else.” El said, starting to get out of bed.

Mike gently grabbed her arm.

“No, El.” Mike said. El climbed back into bed and looked at him. “Not while I’m living here. Hopper was kind enough to let me live here and I can’t betray his trust, no matter how hard it is to fight the urge to.”

El smiled slightly and blushed. She regretfully nodded her head. Then, she remember something. Mike’s gift. It was ready. El suddenly perked up and got out of bed.

“Where are you going?” Mike asked.

“Your present. It’s ready.” El said.

El exited the room and returned a moment later, a huge, expectant smile on her face. In her hands, she had a manila envelope. She handed it to Mike.

On the front of the envelope, was Mike’s name written in El’s messy handwriting. He smiled as he opened the envelope and pulled out a small piece of paper, which contained a drawing of a diamond ring.

“Wow, El! This is great!” Mike said.

“Really?” El asked.

Mike nodded his head, still admiring the drawing. After a moment, El spoke up.

“So?” El asked.

Mike looked up to her, confused.

“So what?”

“Yes or no?”

Mike looked even more confused.

“Yes or no to...” The realization suddenly dawned on Mike as El spoke up.

“Will you marry me?” El asked, a shock of nerves flowing through her body as the words left her mouth.

Mike felt his heart break, realizing that he would have no choice but to say no. He took a deep breath, putting the drawing down on the bed.

“I’m sorry El, but we can’t. We talked about this. We have to wait.” Mike said.

El’s face dropped.

“But you said if someone gives someone they love a diamond ring, then they get married, and you said that a drawing would be good enough. I don’t understand.” El said.

El was extremely confused and embarrassed that she doesn’t understand how the world works. She could feel a panic attack coming on: her heart racing, her breathing speeding up.

“El, maybe I’m the wrong person to talk about this stuff with. I’ll call Mrs. Byers and she can come over and talk to you about all that stuff.” Mike said.

“But you promised!” El said, her voice showing the anger she was feeling.

“I know, but I promised that we would get married in a few years, El. I still love you.” Mike said.

El glared at Mike. She was fuming. He had promised, and now he had broken that promise. She grabbed her drawing and tore it up into a bunch of tiny pieces.

“El! No!” Mike said.

El stopped and glared at Mike some more.

“I want my blanket back.” She said, holding out her hands.

Mike handed her her blanket and she handed him his. She wrapped herself in her blanket and got up out of the bed.

“El, where are you going? Let’s talk about this.” Mike said.

El shook her head, balling her hands up into fists.

“No.” She said, tears starting to stream from her eyes.

“No, El, don’t cry.” Mike said, moving towards her.

El took a step back away from him.

“Stop!” El said.

Mike stopped and stood before her. They stared at each other for a moment.

“You said friends don’t lie and then you lied.” She said.

Mike took a deep breath.

“El, I didn’t lie, I...”

“I don’t want to be your girlfriend anymore.” El said.

A sudden, searing chest pain passed through Mike as her words struck him like a bullet.

“What? You’re breaking up with me?” Mike asked.

El nodded her head.

“Yes. I break up with you.” She said.

Without another word, she turned around and left Mike’s room, slamming his door behind her as she left. He heard her walk to her room and slam her door as well.

A shellshocked Mike hurried back to his bed and burst into tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With some angst at the end ;)


End file.
